Fhe Forests

of Upper India

rhomas W. Webberssi;*

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THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA AND
THEIR INHABITANTS

THE FORESTS OF UPPER
INDIA

AND THEIR INHABITANTS

BY

THOMAS W. WEBBER

Late Forest Surveyor for the North-West Provinces, and
Deputy Conservator of Forests in the Central Provinces and Gorakhpur

2

WITH MAPS

LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
J^ttbliskcr to tht Inbia «ffict
1902

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ------ ix

CHAPTER I

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAN FOREST - - I

CHAPTER n

ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST - - - "14

CHAPTER HI

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES - - - - - 22

CHAPTER IV

FOREST SURVEYING - - - - '3^

CHAPTER V

CAMPS IN THE UPPER FORESTS - - - "44

CHAPTER VI

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS - - - - " 5^

CHAPTER VII

DOWN IN THE DEEP VALLEYS BY THE STREAMS - - ^5

1831793

vi CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII

PAGE

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE - "73

CHAPTER IX

THE UPPER VALLEYS AND COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS - 86

CHAPTER X

HUNDACE OR HUNDES : THE LAND OF THE HUNS - - 102

CHAPTER XI

GURLA MANDHATA AND THE SOURCES OF THE BRAHMA-
PUTRA - - - - - - IIS

CHAPTER XII

PLAINS OF GYANIMA : HOME OF THE * OVIS AMMON ' * 134

CHAPTER XIII

NO man's LAND : RAVINES, DEEP VALLEYS, AND HIGH

PASSES _-.-_- 145

CHAPTER XIV

SUBALPINE REGIONS : HEAT, RAIN, AND DRIPPING JUNGLES 1 68

CHAPTER XV

THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST - - - - 1 84

CHAPTER XVI

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS - - I94

CHAPTER XVII

THE TERAI : SPORT OF PRINCES - - - "213

CONTENTS
CHAPTER XVIII

PAGE

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI - - 227

CHAPTE

$xDrrsjj;>*vX/f /

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA AND BUNDELKHAND - 257

CHAPTER XX

THE NERBUDDA ------ 279

CHAPTER XXI

THE BORI FOREST ------ 297

APPENDIX

on the scientific management of forests - "319

Index ------- 340

MAP OF UPPER INDIA SHOWING FOREST REGIONS

SKETCH MAP OF HUNDES AND THE HIMALAYAN RANGE

INTRODUCTION

The term ' forest ' has always had for me a strange
fascination. Dr. Johnson defines a forest as ' a wild,
uncultivated tract of ground interspersed with trees.'
Italians still call strangers generally forestieri, conveying
the idea that all outside the pale of civilization is forest.
The Great Hercynian Forest, covering half of Northern
Europe, was to the Romans an unknown region of mon-
strous import. Travellers in Central Africa have scarcely
yet penetrated the great Forest, where strange types of
men and apes of terrible proportions have been seen by a
few. The human race seems actually to have sprung into
existence as a forest animal, and the earliest instincts of
mankind are now represented by the almost universal
love of the chase. Romantic tales like that of Robin
Hood and his Foresters bold are still cherished in most
civilized countries. In England men still cling to the
traditions of foresters, and in Germany they reverence
' the gray and the green.' In India the term ' jungle '
has a similarly wide and uncertain meaning, not
necessarily implying trees any more than the Scotch
' deer forest,' but signifying a region where savage animals
dwell, and where wild men exist. I have been asked a
hundred times what a Forest Officer in India does when
engaged in his forest duties. People generally seem to
look on the forests there very much as the Italians must
have done — as unknown to civilized mankind.

X INTRODUCTION

In commencing to write the following recollections of
years spent mostly in the Forests of Upper India,
principally in the Himalayas and North- West and Central
Provinces, my object will be to record such incidents
as may elucidate the conditions of life in the forests,
and to treat of the wild animals and men met with and
their habits, and also casually of the trees and plants that
grow naturally there. I do not pretend to any scientific
knowledge of these things, but, being a lover of Nature
in all its aspects, I would try and record the results of
constant observation made from time to time in the
various regions visited, which were to myself highly
interesting and instructive, and which I would endeavour
to put into intelligible form.

Man was originally a hunting animal, and the instinct
certainly is not eradicated among Englishmen yet, though
there are some who have not a soul for sport. But to
many men, and women too, of our country, the wild Hfe
in the forest comes quite natural and has a perfect fascina-
tion. To kill something is said by foreigners to be the
daily desire of every Saxon. This is often too true ; and
that the big game of the world is rapidly and surely
becoming extinct is probably due to the persistent energy
of the Anglo-Saxon character in acting up to its proclivities.
I would not write to assist such exterminators and pot-
hunters, whose selfishness and cruelty cannot be sufficiently
reprobated. It is, alas ! too true that as no one will burn
an ounce less coal in England because the next generation
will surely run short, so the wild animals which a few
years back abounded in the vast forests of Africa and
Western America are now within measurable distance of
becoming extinct, the present generation caring nothing
for the next.

But it is not so in India. Nature has there provided

INTRODUCTION x

a safeguard against the entire spoiling of its beautiful and
vast forests. During the six months of the rainy season
the growth is so luxuriant, and the jungles so impenetrable
and unhealthy, that the wild animals have immunity from
the persecution of their great enemy, the Saxon man. The
natives as a rule do not take animal life ; and the paternal
rule of the British Government, though it offers a reward
for the destruction of snakes and animals dangerous to
life, does not encourage the wholesale slaughter of the
harmless creatures which the forest produces and nourishes.
India will, I hope, long remain a paradise for the true
sportsman, as its forests cannot become denuded of all
life and so deprived of half their beauty and interest. In
establishing a Forest Department and protecting the
timber from destruction, the Government has also extended
its protecting arm over the game, so that it shaU not be
exterminated in a ruthless and wasteful manner. Never-
theless, game is getting scarcer than it was. I was fortu-
nate in being in the country at a time — shortly after the
Mutiny — when game of all kinds was very plentiful, and
when in most places it was easy to keep the larder
and camp supphed with good venison or winged game ;
but to kill females, or slaughter poor innocent creatures
simply to make a bag, was not thought of. I have read
books on hunting big game, where the writers unblush-
ingly describe their exploits in shooting down multitudes
of innocent animals apparently for no object whatsoever.
Nor do they even omit to count up the wounded ones.
Such descriptions make one sick, and little the wiser as
to the nature of the country or the habits of the animals.
I shall not endeavour to imitate these wrongly styled
sportsmen. My object was to obtain the best specimen
of any particular kind of game, and to become acquainted
with its conditions of hfe from actual experience, and

xli INTRODUCTION

I found this a most interesting pursuit. I would desire
to record things that I have seen and incidents, sometimes
exciting enough, which come in the ordinary course of a
day's work in the forest.

Lastly, I would try and justify the title of these pages
by giving to the inquirer about forests some information
as to the objects and methods of modern forestry, about
which ideas are rather vague. Some imagine that forestry
is the science of planting trees in ornamental plantations
and lawns, on which subjects whole books have been
written, with full instructions for each time of year, under
the title of ' Forestry.' Some imagine that it has something
to do with French or German, and that to understand
about trees one must think in one or both of these lan-
guages. I quite agree that those nations are far ahead
of England in the science of forestry ; and having spent
some time in Germany studying their system of manage-
ment, I consider there is no better school or system ; but
when the writer commenced the survey of forests in India
it was far more useful to be able to swear roundly in
Hindustani, without striking or losing one's temper, than
to talk French. Some, again, imagine that cutting timber
is the principal work of a forester, and that a good axe
is the most essential implement. In the Indian forests
I have always found a good rifle and a kukri* the most
useful weapons ; while to be able to ride all day on an
elephant without feeling the sun, and to camp out in all
seasons of intense heat on the plains and of intense cold
on the highest hills in the world, without taking fever,
and to be always ready for a long march on foot, horse, or
elephant, and for a good venison steak at the end of it,
were the most approved capabihties of a Forest Officer.

The Forest Department was started, shortly before the
* Gurkha hunting-knife.

INTRODUCTION xiii

writer entered it, because Government became aware
that the magnificent forests of India and Burma were being
worked by private enterprise in a reckless and wasteful
manner, and were likely to become exhausted if super-
vision were not exercised. In a country possessing
thousands of square miles* of timber-growing jungle, it
was found that timber for sleepers had to be imported
from Norway for railway construction. The European
pine wood, even when creosoted, did not remain sound
for long in the climate of India, where the great alterna-
tions of extreme drought and damp heat affect timber
rapidly and cause it soon to decay. The hard and heavy
native timbers, such as teak and sal, are more suitable
for withstanding the climate than any European wood.
It became absolutely necessary to grow a constant supply
of native timber, and for that purpose the existing forests
were given into the charge of the new Forest Department
under the supervision of skilled officers. Government
availed itself of the services of what it could obtain
most suitable, and selected a well-known specialist, Dr.
Brandis,t who was experienced in the German system
of forest management, as Inspector-General of Forests.
There were, beside the known teak and sal forests, great
areas of waste land under jungle of sorts, almost unex-
plored. In order to bring these under supervision and
ascertain what was worth protecting. Forest Surveyors
were appointed. The writer and two assistants were
selected for that post in the North-West Provinces by the
Lieutenant-Governor.

Prior to this my work had been, though not actually in
the Forest Department, still very much in the forest. I
was employed in engineering and constructing a road

* In India and Burma 80,000,000 acres,
f Now Sir Dietrich Brandis.

xiv INTRODUCTION

from the foot of the hills up to the hill-station of Naini
Tal. Road-constructing is a very important operation,
which comes necessarily into the work of Forest Officers ;
therefore I make no apology for including it in these
recollections, and describing the work and its incidents
first. Next will follow the story of the surveying of the
forests, both in the hills and in the plains of North-West
and Central India. Lastly I will treat of later experiences
in the duties of a Forest Conservator, and the management
of forests generally, and work in the districts of Gorakhpur
and the Nerbudda valley and Satpura hills, in the Central
Provinces.

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

CHAPTER I

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAN FOREST

A LINE of deep red along the eastern horizon was the
first signal of dawn, after a hot night of pitchy blackness.
The morning of October i6, 1861, was breaking. The
dust of an unmetalled road, with the dense smoke of flaring
torches, had filled the air all night long and made it
unbreathable. The monotonous ' Huh, huh ! huh, huh !'
of the black and perspiring kahars, or dooly-bearers, as
they struggled along under the weight of a primitive
apparatus, made of canvas stretched on a rough frame-
work, and called a ' dooly,' had made the night appear
everlasting. There had never been a chance of five
minutes' consecutive sleep for the weary traveller reclining
within. The long bamboo on which the vehicle hung,
borne on the shoulders of four men, while four more ran
beside, taking shift every five minutes, following the
masalchi, or torch-bearer, swung horribly from the trotting
motion of the bearers. The suffering traveller who was
borne along on that sultry night through the Terai, by
the broad straight road leading from Bareilly to the foot
of the Himalayan hills, would occasionally express his
dissatisfaction at the swinging motion by plaintive com-

I

2 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

mands. ' Step out of time ' is the usual form of instruc-
tion given by the chaudhri, or head bearer ; for the art of
carrying a dooly steadily at a semi-running pace is never
to step in time together, an error which causes the bamboo
to bend with the steps of the kahars, and the unlucky
passenger to be shot up and down on the elastic cord-
laced bottom of the dooly like a pea on a drum. Each
man is ready enough to give the order to his bhai or brother,
but the steps would invariably relapse into the regular
beat, of which a soldier marching would be proud, and
the pole would bend and rebound with provoking elas-
ticity. The sliding-doors at each side, if closed to keep
out the dust and flare of the smelly torches, would also
exclude what slight air might be stirring, and the heat
inside would be stifling. Added to these discomforts, the
uncertainty of finding the fresh relays of bearers at each
ten mile chauki, or change, and the yelling of the tired
men to announce their arrival to the fresh bearers, who
might be asleep by the roadside, or perhaps still in their
village, had also a disturbing effect on the traveller's
sleep. Ditto the demands for backshish in addition to
the legal pay already given when the dak is laid, in con-
sideration for the unexceptionable excellence of the manner
in which the stage had been performed.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the traveller gener-
ally found himself at the end of his forty or fifty miles'
night journey by dooly dak not much the worse for a bad
night's rest. He could lie at full length, and had the
comfort of his own pillow and blankets, also a store of
provisions and — most important — drink on the shelf above
his toes. When used to it, a night's journey was about the
easiest way of avoiding the sun and getting over a good
many miles of road where wheeled vehicles could not
travel at all, crossing ravines and water-pools in perfect

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAN FOREST 3

safety. It was considered in those days quite luxurious.
The traveller's light portmanteaux were borne by hahangi
wallahs, who accompanied the dak, swung at each end
of the bahangi, an elastic yoke of split bamboo, across its
bearer's shoulder. In these days of railway travelling,
with sleeping and dining cars and every modem improve-
ment, the comfort of the passenger may be superior, but
he does not gain any experience of the country he passes
rapidly through. He scarcely sees the scenery, and has
often not an idea what the physical character of the land
is like, or the people inhabiting it. His eye dwells more
on the pattern of the lining of the railway carriages than
the beauties of nature, and his ear, instead of receiving
the new sounds of interest afforded by the language of
the natives, becomes weary of the steam whistle and the
invitation to feed of the cosmopolitan waiter. To have
travelled through India in the old ways, by dooly dak,
gharry dak, and bullock-train, not to speak of marching
and the more rapid post -cart, is an experience worth
having gone through. These thoroughly Indian methods
of locomotion, the only ones in John Company's days,
were no doubt tedious and fuU of discomfort ; but the
pleasure and excitement of seeing a new country on the
same level as its inhabitants, and in the true Oriental
manner customary in India from times immemorial, leave
an impression of interest on the mind never afterwards
effaced.

The breaking of the glorious day in India after such a
night of darkness and uncertainty is a pleasant relief.
Weariness and relaxation rapidly give way to freshness
and a feeling of exhilaration as the crisp morning air is
felt, and the Hght rapidly increases till the sun makes its
way upwards. The first glimpse of the great wall of
forest-clad mountains is obtained through the long vista

I — 2

4 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

ahead. The swamps and tall feathery jungle-grass of
the Terai had been passed in the darkness twenty miles
astern, and had given place to the dark green forests of
the Bhabar through which the road was cut. This great
belt of jungle, principally a close mass of tall evergreen
sal trees, extends all along the base of the foot hills for
hundreds of miles and ten to twenty in width, scarcely
penetrated except on elephants, when the jungle fires
have cleared out the luxuriant undergrowth which springs
up in the rains. It is the home of every wild animal, from
the elephant downwards. Troops of great white langur
apes, with long tails and black grinning faces and hands,
bound across the path and leap from tree to tree.

The approach to the mighty Himalayas, after seeing
nothing but the dead level of the plains for so long, is
very impressive, and strikes the traveller with strange
anticipations. There above and before him tower the
great forest-clad hills. Under his feet are actual round
stones, which remind him of northern highlands, and in
the blue haze of the mountains above he fancies he can
see precipices of real solid rock. Beyond those distant
summits which rise one over another, he knows, though
he cannot see them, that there lies the everlasting snow-
clad range of the most lofty mountains in the world. The
snowy range can be seen only rarely from Bareilly, on
clear days glistening like opal among the clouds loo
miles away. No wonder that the natives of the plains
reverence, and fear to approach, these mysterious moun-
tains, and do not credit that any man could walk up
there without falling down. The inhabitants of the vast
plains of Bengal and the Doab have most of them never
seen a stone, as the level and dusty surface is all deep
alluvial. To those even who have lived in moderately
hilly countries, the sudden rise from the plains of the huge

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAN FOREST 5

mountains of the Himalayas, with slopes and buttresses
extending seventy miles from the summit, seeming like
a great wall rising straight up from the plain, as the first
view breaks suddenly on the sight, is mysterious and
impressive, and hard to realize.

Let us sit and wonder at this scene in the verandah
of the friendly rest-house which a parental Government
has erected at Kaladungi (' Black Forest '), where neces-
sary refreshment is supplied at a trifling expense. Fresh
eggs and crisp chapatis are not bad fare, and the flavour
and aroma of hill tea that comes straight from the Kumaon
tea gardens, with sweet goat's milk, are not to be surpassed.

The group of chattering kahars, or dooly-bearers, who
sit near the verandah, smoking their hubble-bubbles,
squatting on their heels wrapped in brown blankets, as
if it was freezing, reminds one that these tired, half-naked
and very starv^ed-looking natives of the fever-stricken
Terai are waiting for their backshish, and anxious to re-
turn to their villages some twenty miles distant. Soon
they are dismissed with a rupee among the lot, to add to
the six annas each man has already received from the
chaudhri, with perhaps the usual deductions. They are
bad specimens of a nimble-footed and wiry race being
decimated at this season by Terai fever, and cannot com-
pare with the Rohilkhand kahar, who can do his sixty
miles at a trot and eat only once a day.

Soon it is time to be stirring, as to-night we shall sleep
7,000 feet above the sea, in the beautiful sanatorium of
Naini Tal.

A hill pony of the Bhotia race, sturdy and shaggy and
about thirteen hands high, is ready for the ascent ; and
paharis, or hill coolies, are started by the chaprasi in
charge, carrying the bedding and light baggage. The
ser\^ants, horses, and heavy baggage will arrive some days

6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

later, having marched from the Punjab with a ' hackery,'
or bullock cart.

Those who have ridden by the now little-frequented
track from Kaladungi to Naini Tal will recollect the ever-
changing experiences of that fifteen mile ride. The
ascent is gradual at first ; the road, which is a bridle-path
cut through the dense sal forest on the side of the hill,
following sometimes the steep spurs of the mountain,
and sometimes the narrow valleys with gurgling streams ;
generally in the shade of evergreen trees, but often in the
glare of a tropical sun. Looking back, there are occa-
sional views of the plains below covered with endless
dark-green forests of the tall and thick-foliaged sal and
saj. The path-like glades and winding courses of the
rivers with white, dry, shingly beds, are mapped out
beneath. At this season the water which flows from the
hills is all underground in the Bhabar, filtering through the
shingle which has been swept down from the hills during
the rains ; when the rivers are foaming torrents, trending
all away to the south till they disappear into the swamps
of the Terai, now an ocean of yellow waving grass. The
panorama becomes wider and more indistinct as one
ascends, losing itself in a horizon of blue distant haze.
Above, against the sky-line, there presently appear pillar-
like stems, with bright-green tufted fohage, of the long-
leaved tropical pine {Ptnus longifolia) , which at 4,000 feet
takes the place of the black-stemmed sal. Higher up, the
forest changes to evergreen oaks of three or four kinds,
and eventually to cypress and rhododendrons with pro-
fuse globes of scarlet blossom, now nearly over. There is
always a rich undergrowth of elephant creepers and bright
flowering begonias, followed by berberis and every sort
of shrub and fern. Orchids hang from the tree-stems in
quaint fashion, and the dwarf date-palm forms a graceful

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAN FOREST 7

undergrowth. The sunny sides of the ravines bristle with
cactus-hke prickly stems of the five-sided euphorbia.*
Cultivation in terraces appears in the valleys, where rice
has been grown, and villages of stone-built houses roofed
with shingles are occasionally met with. The inhabitants
are of a new character, being Kumaon paharts, or hill-men,
a hard-working and wiry race. Near the villages are
plantain groves laden with spikes of fine fruit, and lemons
and pommeloes adorn the gardens. Apricots, ginger,
and oranges are also grown. The zamindars, or land-
owners, are better clothed and healthier-looking than
those of the plains, but goitre is not infrequent. The
lower villages are mostly deserted in the hot weather,
and the families move higher up. Charcoal-burning is
largely practised ; and the smelting of iron, which is found
in the hills, has long been an industry, as shown by aban-
doned smelting furnaces and limekilns rudely built of
sandstone.

A strange queer bird frequents these lower forests,
called the rhinoceros hombill.f He flaps along from tree
to tree, as big as a goose, with dull yellow and black
plumage, short wings, like a huge magpie, and long tail,
making a panting sound like the piston of an engine ;
but his huge head, with Israelitish expression, is his most
remarkable feature, and the great yellow and scarlet
knob on his hooked bill gives him a top-heavy appearance.
He hghts on a bough as if he had never done so before,
and balances himself with difficulty, only saving himself
from falling by jerks of his ugly tail. He looks down at
an intruder with a cunning expression in his small beady
eye, and when he opens his big mouth there is a noise
that would frighten a jackass of the strongest nerves.

* Euphorbia pentaptera.
t Dichoceros bicornis.

8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

His whole aspect and colouring are in the worst of taste,
and he succeeds in being amusing without intending it in
the least.

The sturdy, sure-footed pony struggles on gallantly
upwards, with occasional halts to graze for a bit on the
patches of real green herbage, which become more fre-
quent as the forest is left behind, and the hills become
barer and more precipitous ; yet still the chffs tower higher,
and another appears against the sky as if the summit
would never be reached. The rock becomes shaly and
disintegrated, and looks as if the mountain was ready to
topple down into the abyss below. One great landslip
has already occurred, where at least a thousand feet of
the precipice have gone down, leaving an awful gash in
the mountain breast, where parti-coloured strata are laid
bare sloping at a high angle against the sky, blocking up
the khud below with acres of confused ruin. The path
zigzags frantically towards a gap in the overhanging cliffs,
and at length emerges on the ghat, when the scene suddenly
changes and the path begins to descend through forests
of oak and rhododendron into the peaceful valley of Naini
Tal. Presently glimpses are obtained of the shining green
waters of the lake, and pretty, red-roofed bungalows and
an English church come into view. Cypresses* with
pointed feathery shapes clothe the circle of surrounding
hills, headed by the lofty peak of China Pahar. A wider
road rejoices in the familiar name of the Mall. Evening
closes rapidly. The traveller is directed to the hotel, and
his journey is at an end.

To describe the well-known hill-station of Naini Tal

would be superfluous in these days, when so many go to

India and in India so many go to the hills. In the year

1861, however, it was a much more primitive place than

* Cupressus torulosa.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAN FOREST 9

it is at present. It had only recently been adopted as a
sanatorium for troops. The Commissioner of Kumaon,
Colonel Ramsay, C.B., had some years previously dis-
covered it. There was in those days only a vague report
of a beautiful and sacred valley high up in the mountains,
uninhabited by any save a few jogis, or priests, but no
path was known leading to it. Colonel Ramsay had gone
on an expedition to explore the lofty peak of China Pahar,
and came suddenly upon the lake nestled in the secluded
valley close under the summit. It is not a crater, being
on stratified shaly rock, and was probably formed by a
gigantic slip down of half the mountain. There is no
decided stream running into it, except a small one which
comes out of Sukha Tal, a now ' dry lake ' basin, and there
is no proper overflow from it except in the rains. The
water goes out in a subterranean passage, bursting forth
in a good-sized torrent among the precipices at the lower
end of the basin. It is surrounded by steep hiUs on every
side, apparently clothed with dense jungle of evergreen
oaks with silvery under-sides to their shiny leaves, and
other beautiful evergreens. The forest was then a
favourite haunt of wild animals, sambur deer and gooral
(the Himalayan chamois), bears and tigers. Colonel
Ramsay used to say he had seen a herd of wild elephants
climbing the steep slopes of China, and that he had had
such shooting as he had nowhere else found the equal of.
In those early days a very steep path had been engineered
up the face of the precipice from the Juli side, up which
everything had to be carried on coolies' heads. Now
there was a native bazaar and a number of fine level roads
winding about the hill slopes, and about fifty picturesque
bungalows had been built, all roofed with sheet iron, and
barracks built of stone. Timber was plentiful, and lime
was burnt on the spot. Colonel Ramsay, who had built

lo THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

for himself a fine two-storied house, with glazed-in
verandahs, on a plateau of Aya Pathar, found it a de-
lightful residence for the hot weather ; and Naini Tal
had become the summer headquarters of the North- West
Provinces Government. The Lieutenant-Governor had
his residence there, as well as other officials, and it soon
attracted the many sufferers from the heat of the plains,
and was the resort of retired servants of John Company
who preferred to live out their days in the country to
which they had got used, and which they loved as their
home and the scene of hard and interesting lifelong work
among the friends they trusted.

The difficulties of supplying a colony so large, and includ-
ing invalid troops, where even the Mem Sahib's piano had
to be carried up by coolies, were becoming aggravated.
Government therefore decided to construct a cart-road to
connect so important a station with the plains. In those
days of activity and fresh awakening after the terrible
troubles of the Mutiny, there was very little red tape or
routine about the Government. Men of the right stamp
had shone out, and worked the machine, while the ineffi-
cient and slow had dropped out of authority. Con-
spicuous as one who had formed and administered the
provinces of Garhwal and Kumaon from their acquisition,
with brilliant success, was the well-proved and honoured
Colonel Henry Ramsay, C.B.,* Commissioner of Kumaon
and Garhwal. He had saved his division by his prompt
action in promising the Gurkha sepoys the contents of
the treasury at Almora, when the fate of India was hang-
ing on a thread as it were, during the worst period of the
Mutiny, when not a European soldier was near to protect
the hundreds of women and children, refugees from
Mussooree and the plains. He was the acknowledged
* Afterwards Hon, Sir Henry Ramsay, K.C.B.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE HIMALAYAN FOREST il

autocrat of the hill provinces, and beloved by his faithful
paharis. He not only ruled and protected the people,
but also developed with skiU and energy the resources
of the district. He carried out extensive irrigation
works at the foot of the hills, bringing vast areas under
cultivation, and constructed good roads everywhere ; he
also, as Conservator, managed the extensive forests, con-
taining fine timber for building and construction. His
energy and ability knew no bounds. To be posted to the
appointment under so able a chief on this work was a piece
of good fortune to the writer of these recollections. To
carry out his wishes and instructions was a pleasure, and
to secure the friendship and good opinion of such a man
was to attain distinction. That all his officers loved him
was no wonder, as his commands were always intelligible,
and he never interfered except to assist. That his sub-
jects, the long misgoverned hill-men, worshipped him as
their Mahap (father and mother) and Garih Parwar (Pro-
tector of the Poor) is a matter of history.

NainiTal became my headquarters while the road was
being engineered and constructed. November i was the
usual date for commencing operations at the foot of the
hills, and as the weather became hotter the camp and
road operations were moved higher up. In April and
May the real hot weather was on, and the work on the
highest portions of the road, twenty-five miles in length,
was carried on at an elevation of 7,000 feet, where the
climate was hot, but the air comparatively fresh and de-
lightful. The position for the tents was chosen near
running water, and generally shaded by the thick foliage
of spreading trees. June i was the signal for break-
ing camp and retiring to the shelter of a comfortable
bungalow at Naini Tal. The natives will not work at
this season, and migrate to their villages in the upper

12 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

hills before the rains commence. Though not comparable
to Simla, Naini Tal, when the season is on, is pretty well
crowded with seekers after health, both civil and military,
who soon put off the languid and washed-out expression
of last arrivals, and manage to enjoy themselves consider-
ably. The Lieutenant-Governor holds his tiny court, and
the Mall is enlivened by crowds of the fair sex, in bright
summer costumes, carried in jampans and dandis. Hill
ponies are numerous, as everyone possesses one or two,
and excursions to the neighbouring heights are frequent.
But when the rains come, then there is a damper over
everything. When the monsoon comes up with steamy
cloud, and the thunder bursts and rolls around the hills,
echoing from summit to summit for hours and days
together, and the torrents descend till every path runs
like a river, and tons of shingle are carried across the Mall
and cover it up, then one is pleased to have a good staunch
roof overhead, although the noise on the sheet-iron is
deafening. Eleven inches in two days has been known
to fall, and 200 inches may fall in six months. Then
one must look out for landslips. The fate of the entire
cricket ground and hotel and assembly rooms, and the
library well stored with books, which used to be the scene
of many hours' recreation and amusement, alas ! is too
well known, and the terrible tragedy that ensued ; but
that was years after the time of this narration.

My recollections of Naini Tal are mostly pleasant ones,
and when I look at the old photographs and groups of
cheerful well-known faces of good men and true friends,
standing or sitting in rows by the old, well-remembered
club-house, it seems that those were happy days. Alas !
that if fate should ever take me to visit again the valley
of the deep green lake, and to walk by that well-known
path to the club I was so familiar with, I should not see

FIRST GLIMPSE OP^ THE HIMALAYAN FOREST 13

one single face I left behind me there, and not one would
know me or stretch out a hand to grasp mine. Still, the
forest-clad hills would be the same, and the scene little
altered. The memory of those happy years and the good
kind friends will always remain, and Naini Tal will always
be to me one of the fairest spots on earth.

CHAPTER II

ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST

The five great stars forming the shoulders and belt of
Orion, with the sloping line of little stars representing
the sword, shone in the blue-black heavens with a bril-
liancy seldom seen except in the clear atmosphere of the
hills in the time of what is commonly called the cold
season. A i2-foot-by-i2 ' sholdarry ' tent, pitched on a
terrace on the slope of the hillside facing the south, with
a pleasant fire of glowing logs just opposite its open door,
looked like a forest home of the most agreeable kind.
The cloudless starlit sky and still atmosphere, windless
and not cold, made it quite delightful to sit under the
canopy of heaven just outside the tent door, with the
light of a lamp behind and the warmth of the wood fire
in front. The remains of an excellently cooked dinner,
consisting of pheasant or curried fowl, were cleared away
by a native servant with snow-white puggaree and neat
winter serge livery. The favourite spaniels, Ruby and
Flora, lay under the table, well inside the tent, keeping one
eye open to watch in case the prowling leopard might
come too near, knowing well that one spring and blow
of its cat-like paw would make short work of poor doggie.
The stillness was only relieved by the musical sounds
of the distant stream, whose murmuring seemed to rise
and fall on the ear. The faint noise of many waters came

ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST 15

up from the whole length of the valley beneath the base
of the hill. Opposite rose a dark and densely wooded
mountain from the depths of the intervening valley,
towering to meet the sky several thousand feet from the
stream below. Its sharp outline cut black against the
aU-pervading faint light of the star-speckled vault of
heaven. The bristling tree-tops on the sky-line could be
discerned, and imagination wandered amongst the weird
shapes of the spurs and ridges where the great chir pines
tossed their umbrella-like heads aloft on pillar-Uke stems.
There is a strange spell about the still night in such a spot,
its murmurs broken only by occasional unknown sounds
of nocturnal birds and animals in the neighbouring forest,
sometimes near and sometimes in the far distance. The
embers are dying out on the fire, all the natives in their
extemporized huts have ceased to move, rolled up in
their black blankets ; the horses only are still awake,
chewing their forage and stamping at times. A chill
creeps over the relaxed limbs ; it is time to turn in, to
close the double flies of the thick, well-lined tent, to
retire to the pleasant warmth of one's well blanketed
camp bed, to lay one's head on the smooth cool pillow.

The awakening in a camp in the forest when refreshed
by a good night's sleep, on a bright morning of the cold
season, must be experienced to be thoroughly appreciated.
The early gleams of the sun just rising over the eastern
hilltops strike the white tent almost as soon as daylight
comes, and soon dissipate the hght mists which have
fallen on every bush and herb. The dew-covered webs
of many spiders glisten in the light, soon to lose their
whiteness under the warmth of the sun's rays. The
natives are early astir, and a blue curl of smoke rises as
the fires are set a-buming. The chota haziri (or small roll-
call) is the necessary first meal, which comes as a matter

l6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

of course. The dressing being of the extemporary order,
is soon got through, as the more serious bath and toilet
come before the bara haziri, after morning's duties are
over.

The first outlook from the tent is cheerful across the
hillside terraces and glades, where brawling streamlets
abound. The kakur, or barking deer, is out for his morn-
ing feed upon the tops of the tender wheat, which springs
on the terraced lands. His yellow coat contrasts with
the bright green of the young com. The kahj pheasants,
with their blue-black plumage and silvery drooping tails,
are picking under the oaks. The native assistant-sur-
veyor, Gaitul Singh, and a gang of coolies, are ready
with Hght axes and pegs and hoes to commence the day's
work, which consists in levelling and laying out the line
of road. The road must be of a gradient not greater
than 3 feet rise in loo, and 30 feet wide for cart traffic.
The utmost skill and ingenuity are required to take ad-
vantage of every spur and ridge so as to zigzag upwards ;
and with hills of a very steep and ravine-cut nature, and
several thousand feet to be mounted, it is needless to
observe that the turns and winds of the road, following
the contours of ridge and valley, will be exceedingly
perplexing. With levelling instruments and pegs it was
necessary to run many trial lines before determining
which was best. In some places, after following easy
slopes with favourable soil for cutting out the line, like
a step or terrace on the mountain-side, there appeared
in front an impossible precipice too steep and dangerous
for any road ; and the work of levelling and pegging out
a new trial line up another spur and ridge had to be gone
through, till eventually the best route was found so as
to avoid heavy cutting or dangerously loose precipices.
The sandstone strata, dipping to the east at a high angle.

ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST 17

presented an easy slope on one face, up which the road
was zigzagged, gaining elevation at each tack ; but when
it came to rounding the extremity of the spur, the broken-
off ends of the strata formed lines of sheer precipice
sloping up the face of the hill, which must be passed
somehow to gain the sloping ground beyond. The line
would then sweep along the slopes of a side valley over-
looking a brawling stream buried in dense forest of dark
sal trees, and, higher up, evergreen oaks, acacias, and a
great variety of semi-tropical trees with creepers, all
tangled in an impassable jungle. Then it would gain the
easier slopes of a wider valley with terraced and cultivated
sides, and crossing the stream at a native village, it would
return along the opposite side of the valley towards the
main river, gaining altitude with every mile. The morn-
ing's work entailed hard climbing among great boulders
and rocks, and cutting a way through the thicket where
white men had seldom before penetrated — the haunt of
the tiger and other beasts of the jungle, as the tracks in
the wet sand by the streams clearly showed. The coolies,
however, worked cheerfully, their pleasant voices echoing
amongst the rocks and glens, as they shouted to one
anbther to indicate the direction explored, chopping at
the rope-like creepers and thorny brakes until a passage
was effected. The return to camp before noon for repose
and breakfast was well earned, and an appetite unfailing
after a cool bath made the meal an agreeable one. The
dogs watch their master, and Jacko the monkey, with
inscrutable expression, pretends not to see anything, but
is ready to play some prank on the dogs or servants
when they do not observe him.

Jacko was captured when quite a tiny baby by some
boys from a troop of the common white-faced monkey,
and bought for a rupee. He was not larger than a half-

2

l8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

grown kitten, and had got separated from his parent
when hunted from tree to tree. The boys had dimbed
after him to a topmost bough, whence Jacko had dropped
in sheer terror to the ground, to be surrounded and seized
when half stunned by the falL His httle wrinkled face
was the picture of misery, and he struggled and cried
piteously. The leaders of the monkey troop came round
as near as they dared to recover him from the boys, who
were armed with bamboos and stones, but the boys had
succeeded in carrying off their prize. Poor Jacko, when
sold, like Joseph to the cruel Egyptians, had soon found
that he was not going to be eaten, and clung to his new
master's breast as tightly as he could, his little head occa-
sionally peeping out to see if his black and rude persecutors
had departed. Friendly relations being thus established,
he remained there for hours, occasionally getting a nice
drink of warm milk, which he soon learnt to take out of
a cup ; and ever after he would fly to his warm place for
safety if frightened by strange objects. At night, when
his little eyes closed in sleep, he was transferred to the
breast of Ruby, the spaniel dog, who lay curled up under
his master's bed, and made no objection to perform the
duties of nursery-maid to little Jacko. Monkeys do not
grow big in a few months like puppies or kittens. They
grow up slowly like children, and take several years to
become boy monkeys, half -grown. A full-grown monkey
is probably ten to twenty years old. When Jacko was
eventually carried off by a leopard, four or five years later,
he was not nearly of half-grown size. Jacko was an
amusing fellow, and learnt many tricks from the mehtar
who fed him — such as to salaam, and stand on his head,
and ' shoulder arms ' with a toy gun ; but he became too
mischievous to remain at large. He would put to flight
any native women and children that came near the camp,

ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST 19

and enjoyed himself thoroughly pulling their hair and
making them scream ; and then, jumping on to a tree or
roof, he would give them great abuse and mimic them
with strange grimaces. ^--'1

The road from the foot of the hills from Kathgodam
by Juli to Naini Tal took three years to construct. The
first season, commencing in November, the lower twelve
miles up to the Brewery were marked out and cut 6 feet
wide. The work was done by native contractors of the
Kumaon district, principally lohars, or iron workers.
Each man with his family would take, say, a quarter-mile.
They were excellent workers, the men hacking out the
clay with picks and hoes, and the women dragging it
away on sledges made of boards, with creepers for ropes,
or sometimes of the skins of animals. The rocks were
blasted and built into dry walls below, to support the
stuff which came down from above. The hillsides being
very steep, the work was facilitated when the rains came,
large quantities of earth coming down all along the six-
foot cutting on to the track, which was completed the
following year — 20 to 30 feet wide — strong retaining walls
being built from below to retain the material, which, after
a time, became consolidated into a firm road. But in
some places, where the earth was loose or springs broke
out, there were disastrous landslips, and great difficulty
was experienced in keeping up the road at all. The second
season, the widening process had to be completed after
the rains ceased. No work could be done in the rains.
In some places where solid rock and precipices were met
with, the entire road was blasted out of the rock, which
was red sandstone, and luckily not very hard. Steel
jumpers and crowbars were largely employed, and a
hundred pounds of gunpowder per day were often burnt.
This portion was done by coolies from Nepal, called Dotials,

2 — 2

20 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

who came every year in gangs of lOO men each for
the season's work, November to May. There were over
2,500 of them at work at times. They were engaged at
two annas a day each, and worked very fairly well under
their own chaudhris (gangsmen), who were responsible for
the work. These people are somewhat Uke Gurkhas.
They possess but a blanket each and a lota (brass pot) to
cook with, and they complain of great poverty in their
own country. Their pay came seldom to a rupee a week,
more often to twelve annas. Yet they lived so frugally
on millet (a small grain called moth) that they generally
had a good few silver rupees to take home, tied up in the
end of a dirty loin-cloth.

The names of coolies in these hills are short, such as
Jugia, Munnoo, Joga, Motee, distinguished by the addition
of their caste or trade, such as Lohar (iron-worker or
smith) — thus Jehan Lohar corresponds with John Smith
— Sunar (silversmith), Darzi (tailor). Those who called
themselves mistri were masons or carpenters, and brought
some very primitive tools, similar to those used probably
at the building of the Tower of Babel and Noah's ark.
They use an adze and a drill worked by a bow, and a saw
which works when pulled towards one, and hold the wood
with their toes. Barhai mistri is a master carpenter,
lohar mistri, a master blacksmith. The bellows used are
made of two goat-skins, connected with an iron pipe which
is built into a stone hearth. They are worked by a man
who sits holding the ends of the bags, one in each hand,
clasping two pieces of wood which open the end to let the
air in as he draws it out, and when clasped and pressed
expel the air through the pipe — right hand and left alter-
nately— into the hearth where the charcoal fire bums.
The anvil is a large stone, and with hammer and tongs
very fair work is done.

Then there were the lime burners, timber workers, and

ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST 21

masons {raj mistri), not of the Dotial race, but men of the
hills generally. The Kumaonis are mostly Hindus, and
belong to a mild, hard-working, agricultural race, speak-
ing a Hindi dialect. They are of a Semitic cast of feature,
not like the Dotials, who are of a semi-Tartar race like
the Gurkhas, speaking a Nepali dialect, have Chinese-
like slit eyes and sturdy muscular limbs, and are a more
warlike people. Kumaon had been conquered by the
Gurkhas before it came under British rule, but its people
were not dispossessed of the land, which is everywhere
terraced and cultivated up to the tops of the lower hills.

The masons were very clever at dressing and quarrying
stones, and building them into the walls and buttresses
of bridges which had to be thrown across mountain
torrents and ravines. The mortar was made by attendant
coolies, and the fitting and jointing of the stones was very
neatly done in courses, and sometimes in cyclopean
pattern, the stones being redressed when in position with
stone adze-like hammers. There were timber fellers, who
cut down the tall straight sal trees which grow in the
forest, a very heavy and straight-grained timber, darker
in colour but not unlike teak in the grain. Sal {Shorea
robusta) grows all over the Bhabar, or foot-hills above the
Terai, and up to 3,000 feet elevation. It was cut into
great beams by men with adzes and whip-saws, who
worked in the forest. These beams were used in con-
structing strong bridges on the principle of strut-and-tie
girders, on which sal planks were laid for the roadway ;
piers 25 feet wide and buttresses were built where re-
quired on the foundations of great rock boulders, which
were found in the river-beds, or resting on the solid water-
worn rock, mostly red sandstone. There were twenty
or more streams to be bridged over, of various sizes, from
20 feet to one of 100 feet, besides innumerable culverts in
ravines where water flowed.

CHAPTER III

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES

* MoTEE PuDHAN ' was the headman, or pudhan, of Juli
village, tall and lithe in body and limb. His handsome,
well-cut features, dark expressive eyes, and small head,
showed him to be of a higher caste. Motee signifies
' pearl.' He was not ill-named, being an honourable,
truthful, and well-bred native. He was fairly prosperous,
having a well-built stone house roofed with flags, and
placed on the sunny side of the hill among his terraced
lands, with sheds for his cattle ; having also quite a large
family growing up around him, and two very hard-working
wives. He always got his barley or wheat sowed in good
time, after the rice and millet crop had been cleared away,
and had a very good return of corn, grown on his well-
tilled land, and reaped in March and early April ; when it
would again get ploughed by oxen and a wooden plough,
and prepared for the sowing of rice, to be shortly flooded
with pure running water led from the mountain stream
close by. Then the women and young people would
tread in and thin out the green rice plants, which grow
in the mud under five or six inches of water. This crop
is reaped in the rains. Rice constituted a staple food
of the natives, along with wheaten flour made into
chapatis, or thin unleavened cakes, with ghee or clarified
butter. There were many cows belonging to the villagers,

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 23

very useful white and gray cattle with beautiful fine
shiny coats and humps on the withers, black noses, and
large black eyes. They are herded in the jungle by
gualas, who take the whole village stock out daily to
graze, and drive, or rather call, them home at night.
Many have bells made of hard wood tied to their necks,
which can be heard at some distance. Tigers know the
sound of the cattle bells far too well, but without bells
the cattle would be lost in the dense forest.

The head-quarters of the lower section of the road
which ran through Motee's village were on his land, and
several acres of his terraced fields were occupied by tents
and chappars (grass huts) for the native staff. Yet
his temper was never disturbed by the devastation of
his land, for which an equitable compensation was given
him. And in his cleanest white, hand-woven cotton
chapkan, with a sheet for keeping himself warm, and a
neat skull-cap, Motee would often present himself at the
tent door to pay a friendly visit, bringing always a bunch
of ripe plantains or some very fine oranges or pommeloes.*
His greatest trouble was the constant terror of the tigers
which frequented the dense jungles all round his village.
His often repeated prayers to be delivered from their
ravages were most earnest. And no wonder. He had
seen, when a boy, his father struck down and carried off
by a tiger, and not long afterwards his mother was simi-
larly treated. Therefore the presence of a sahib with
guns, and a crowd of workers on the road and blasting
the rocks, was to him and his family and the other
villagers rather a source of relief and a protection. They
could now till their land with comparative safety, and
the cattle returned home to be milked with whole skins ;

* Officials are permitted by Government order to accept an offering
of fruit from natives.

24 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and his wives counted on rearing a good proportion of
the calves and laying in a stock of ghee to be sold at the
Naini Tal bazaar, and having plenty of dhai, or thick
milk, for the baba log to drink. Still, there came reports
from the neighbouring villages of a terrible manswag,
or man-eater, who frequented the hills around and carried
off occasionally a solitary woman or old man, who had
ventured alone to cut grass in the jungle.

Motee had gone one day early in April to the bazaar on
business. His wives were busy, one at home, the other
with a sickle cutting the ripe barley in a field close to
my camp, little suspecting that danger might lurk in the
neighbourhood of so much life and activity. There was
one patch of yellow barley, heavy with full grain, still to
be cut on a terrace just round the spur of the hillside,
beyond which flowed a clear mountain stream, babbling
among great rounded rocks and over-arched by dark sal
trees. Creepers twined in graceful festoons from tree
to tree over the torrent, and the sun's bright rays scarcely
penetrated into the deep shade below. Birds innumerable
twittered and frisked from branch to branch, their
brilliant plumage glancing in the sun. The paradise
bird with long fluttering tail, the golden oriole calling with
its plaintive whistle, and green parakeets with plum-
coloured heads picked at the little figs of the pipal, while
troops of jungle fowl like game bantams scuttled among
the tree stems. All was peaceful and bright. Luckmee,
the young wife, was happy at her nearly finished work,
rejoicing that Motee would be pleased on his return to
find the com all cut. She grasped the standing corn
with one hand, drawing the sickle to cut, stooping, near
where a huge rock, all overgrown with ferns and mosses,
lay close to the tangled thicket. Lying flat among the
ferns, and quite invisible to the quickest eye, the man-

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 25

eater crouched ready for the spring, and with a sudden
bound he struck Luckmee's head with his heavy paw,
fracturing the poor skull with the force of the blow, and
with another bound carried her off into the ravine below.
Some grass-cutters returning to the camp with dub
grass for the horses had heard a scream, and seeing the
red sari or head-veil left in the field where Luckmee had
lately been working, rushed in terror to the tent, crying
that the tiger had carried off a woman. Seizing guns and
rifles, always kept loaded, and accompanied by some
chaprasis and a brave Dotial gun-bearer, it did not take
many minutes to be on the spot. There lay the sickle
and a handful of com, and, alas ! a pool of blood and
brains ; there were the fresh marks of the great claws
of the tiger's hind-legs where he landed from the rock, and
his tracks, all stained with warm blood, led to the edge
of the forest and down into the ravine. Following
through the dense jungle over moss-grown rocks and
among tangled elephant-creepers, the track was easily
visible. The spaniels, Ruby and Flora, who had rushed
ahead, soon returned yelping, and skulked to their
master's heels. At last the dead body was found by the
stream, terribly mangled and partly devoured. The
tiger, however, was not to be seen. Tigers seem to have
an extraordinary power of rendering themselves invisible,
and hiding in thickets where other animals can easily
be seen. There was no chance of beating him out, as
there was nothing but forest, almost impenetrable, for
miles up the mountain-side to its summit, and no paths
to get there. The only thing to do was to sit still on a
rock and wait for him to return to his interrupted meal,
sending all the noisy followers back to camp. So clever
was this man-eating tiger from having been fired at by
shikaris in trees waiting over a kill, that he never came

26 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

back. Waiting from noon till dusk produced no result.
The villagers at last assembled, and came in a body to
perform the last funereal obsequies, and carried away the
mangled remains on a charpai to the river-side, where the
burning-ghat was.

Next morning at dawn another search was made through
the forest in hopes that the tiger might be hanging about.
Motee's other wife was there to complete the cutting of
the com. On being asked if she was not afraid to come
there by herself, her reply was that Motee had not yet
returned home, and that if it was not cut he would not
be pleased. It was the will of God if the tiger should
come, and the com was ripe. She was as good a bait to
sit over as a buffalo calf, so there was nothing better to
do than to sit concealed in the thick foliage of a large
mango tree which stood opposite the rock, with a couple
of rifles ready in case the tiger should choose to repeat
his yesterday's performance. Nothing however came,
and on Motee's return, if he had to bewail the loss of his
ill-fated wife, he had the satisfaction of having his corn
cut before it was over-ripe.

This tiger was not so easily got at, and for three years
he had been the terror of all the villages around, stretching
from near the Path Dun westward to near where the
Ram Ganga issued from the hills into the Terai eastward.
The reports sent in to the Deputy-Commissioner showed
that seldom a week passed without one or two deaths
attributed to the Juli tiger, and that when he had carried
off a woman or solitary man in one village, he took him-
self off at once, and was next heard of perhaps ten or
twenty miles away. The Commissioner had several times
sent a dozen Gurkha soldiers from the regiment at
Almora, who remained for some months watching to try
and shoot the man-eater, but without result ; and one

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 27

hundred rupees reward was offered for his skin. The
story goes that this tiger was the son of a previous man-
eating tigress which had been shot some years before by
the Gurkhas. She had been for years the terror of the
Juh road, and many dak runners who carried the post-
bags from Naini Tal to the foot of the hills had been
carried off. The Commissioner then ordered two dak
runners to be employed, armed with sword and pistol ;
yet on one occasion the tiger sprang upon the leading man
who carried the bag, and was only beaten off with great
difficulty by his plucky companion, who carried his hhai
to the next chauki on his back. The poor man was badly
mauled, and the tiger's teeth-marks were through an
official envelope delivered next morning to the Commis-
sioner. One after another four brothers lost their lives.
Their old mother, who had lost her last son, the support
of her latter years, took up her abode under a rock close
to the road. She remained there for months. Many
travellers to Naini Tal saw her, and she stated that all
her sons' souls having now gone into tigers, she would
not be happy unless hers also went the same way, and
she prayed for a release from her lonely existence by a
similar death. One morning the passers-by missed the
old woman from her accustomed post. It was a lovely
spot — a dense, cool, shady dell with steep rocky sides.
The old woman sat always on a ledge of rock sheltered
by overhanging blocks, her little fire burning when she
cooked her daily meal of rice or boiled millet, her covering
a single blanket. Everyone passing knew her, and many
had given her pice. The Gurkhas going there soon found
the body in the jungle close by, freshly killed and only
slightly mauled. The blood had been sucked from the
neck in the way usual with tigers when they kill an animal.
The Gurkhas made two ' machans,' or nests in trees, in

28 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

different places, one being over the body, sat there all
day, and shot the old Juli tigress at evening. This had
been some years previous to the time of this narrative, and
now the man-eating family was represented by a son of
the old tigress.

To describe the death of this tiger will now be at-
tempted, though it was not till some time later. It was
the hottest season of the year 1864, just before the break-
ing of the rains. There is something very fascinating
and almost weird in the appearance of the dense tropical
jungle in the hot season in June. The vegetation is all
so parched and dry that the leaves rattle on the trees,
when blown by the fiery blasts which sweep along the
arid surface of the plains. The north-east hot winds
are deflected by the upward currents, which by day are
drawn by the heat of the sun up the valleys, to return at
night in a downward direction. The natives in their
picturesque language call this the Rani ka pankha (the
Princess's fan). Most of the trees which, though ever-
green, change their leaves yearly, are dropping the last
year's crop about now, and appear almost bare, their
bark often shiny and polished like naked limbs of a pink
and yellow colour. The gorgeous flowers of the forest trees
— some, as the semal,* or cotton tree, scarlet, like huge
water-lilies, some orange, like the dhak — fringe the leafless
stems and branches. The forest fires have made a final
sweep up of all the dry grass and herbage, and the soil is
black and smells of burning. The air is dense and heavy,
and the hot wind ceases to blow, till at last all nature
seems to collapse under the overpowering furnace-like
stillness and heat. The sun seems fixed straight over-
head, hanging like a crimson-red globe ready to drop on
to the doomed earth. There are no clouds, but the air
* Bombax hepiaphyllum.

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 29

is so thick with smoke and dust that it seems to smother
all life ; and the sun no longer shines dazzling, but can
be stared at with open eyes. The ground and rocks are
too hot to touch, and the feet are scorched and blistered
by the baked and deeply cracked soil. There comes a
whistling sound in the air, which presages the coming
monsoon, and small whirlwinds sweep up dust and leaves
in pillars like devils at play. The forest, were it not for
the oppressive temperature, looks almost winter-like ; and
all birds and animals are silent and lie hidden in the
thickest lairs, save where a clear cool mountain stream,
reduced to a mere trickle, gurgles over rocks in deepest
ravines, where the bright shiny-leaved jamun* trees, and
the dark saj and sal form deep shade, and overhanging
precipices tower overhead in lonely valleys cut deeply in
the mountain-side. Here the hot-weather bird may be
heard with plaintive, reiterated note, rising in hasty tones
to a frantic screech, ' Brain fever ! brain fever ! brain
fever !'

In such secluded glens the tiger sleeps all day, lying
half immersed in the sand by some pool where the clear
green water trickles from the rocks above, and forms a
deep cool bath, fit abode for sylvan nymphs. Here he
can escape from the pestering flies, and the foot of man
does not disturb such solitudes at this season of the year.
Towards evening or at early dawn, if hunger obliges him
to leave his chosen glen, the tiger stalks through the more
open forest where the sambur deer or the few remaining
cattle feed ; and with a swift bound he plants his great
claws between the shoulders of his victim, which, rushing
frantically forward, soon stumbles and falls under the
weight of the greatest feline. Then he regales himself
on the blood sucked from the jugular veins, and devours
* Syzygium jambolanum.

30 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

the still quivering flesh from the quarters, while its com-
panions flee in terror, scattered in all directions. The
poor village guala swarms up the nearest tree, and shouts
for aid in vain, trying to scare the enemy from his
frightened herds.

He is a wasteful beast, a tiger, often killing two or three
out of a drove of cattle within a space of fifty yards.
But if he has once got the taste of human flesh he gets
too lazy to strike the big cattle, and prefers a smaller
victim more easily slain and tasty, and light enough to
carry off as a cat does a mouse. Such a one was the son
of the old Juli tigress. He preferred a man, or, better
still, a woman, but he would take a calf if one came handy
to him, and if he was hungry, which he generally was
after a three days' roaming. There lived near Juli, high
up on the first hills, a villager of Motee's kin, called Jussoo.
He was a son of the pudhan of that village, and a noted
shikari, a man skilled in all woodcraft, who knew how to
trap or snare all animals of the jungle ; could take the
kalij pheasant and the soft whistling peura partridge* in
his snares, with lines of horsehair nooses set cunningly
near the drinking pools. He could trap the kakur or
barking deer, and even a bear might be taken in his snare,
fastened to a sapling which had sprung back and tightened
on its paw.f He could set great beams weighted with
rocks to fall on an unwary tiger ; but a gun was not much
in his line, and, indeed, he had no license to carry one ; and
he did not believe much in a matchlock, a long clumsy
thing which takes a lot of coaxing to let it off and then
shoots very badly. He had, however, great faith in the
sahib's double-barrelled Westley - Richards rifle, which

* Arboricola rufogularis.

t Strange to say, a bear will eat his own paw off before he will cut /
the thong. '

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 31

had knocked over many a kakur and brought the big
jerow or red deer to the ground, clean shot behind the
shoulder, at 200 yards, and had won rifle contest prizes
at Naini Tal shooting matches against all the North-West
Provinces. Jussoo was a marvellous tracker, and could
follow the khoj (track) over every ground and tell how
long ago the beast had passed. He knew well the ' pug '
of the Juli tiger, which had a peculiar twist of one claw.
By his assistance many a head of big game had been
brought to bay, and much jungle lore had been picked
up by conversing with him and watching his silent,
stealthy ways. He never failed to bring information
when his enemy the manswag came into the valleys
above Juli village ; and saw to the tying out of a buffalo
calf in a likely place.

Work for the year having ended before the rains set
in, and the sahib having taken up his residence at Naini
Tal, Jussoo appeared one day at the bungalow door with
a face of excitement, requesting an interview. The result
was a hurried discarding of the smart society get-up which
the gay season made necessary, and a rapid start in the
hghtest marching order and jungle costume into camp.
A smart dun-coloured hill pony, that could go downhill
like a goat, shambling along in a sort of rapid run — not a
trot or a walk — of the breed called Bhotia, or gunt, soon
brought the eager tiger-hunter down the nine miles of
almost precipitous descent by the winding pag dandi
(footpath) to Juli. Every thousand feet of lower elevation
meant degrees of higher temperature, the rise being from
about 70° to 120°.

Next morning a buffalo calf was procured from the
village and tied out in a secluded valley right up in the
heart of the most jungly recesses of the forest under the
Juli range. Jussoo, whose intimate knowledge of the

32 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

haunts and habits of the tiger led him to this spot,
declared that the tiger was here, lying in some cave under
the rocks. He pointed out the perfectly fresh tracks on
the sand of the stream bed. He declared he had per-
formed a sacrifice to the devta or deity who haunted that
jungle, and the omens had been good, so that he felt
certain that this time the sahib would kill the man-eater ;
that fortune, which had not befriended us in many pre-
vious attempts, was now turned in our favour, and the
fairies were propitious.

There is something weird and uncanny in the tiger-
frequented jungle, where not a sound is heard, and you
pass along seeing nothing, and yet knowing that he is
lurking close by, perhaps looking at you, yet invisible,
but his presence assured by the great impressions on the
sand, once seen never to be forgotten, into which the
water is fast oozing. This was a lovely glen with lofty
walls of rock rising high on one side, over-arched by
great trees of dark evergreen foliage, with sloping bank
rising opposite from the stream, clad with bushes of the
beri, or prickly thorn, in dense brakes topped by light-
green feathery mimosa, wild lemons, and other tropical
trees. The gay yellow-flowered cassia,* and various
creepers hanging in luxuriant wildness, presented a
picture of beauty and harmony like a huge conservatory
of the rarest plants, orchids of various forms clinging to
the rugged stems, the silence only broken by the murmur
of the pellucid green water over the fem-clad rocks, and
the shade of the huge overhanging mountain hiding the
almost vertical sun. Having chosen an open space under
some great trees of wild mango, Jussoo proceeded to tie
up a buffalo calf which his boy had been ordered to lead
to the spot. There was a suitable fork in a thick leafy

* Cassia fistula.

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 33

tree for making the machan, which was done by tying
some branches crosswise, and weaving a screen of boughs at
a height of some ten feet from the ground. Above the
glen there towered a rock of gray sandstone in view of
the spot, whence the boy was instructed to look down at
evening time and again at dawn, to report as to the safety
of the calf. A cow-bell, made of hard wood hollowed out
with a tongue inside, was fastened round the patient
buffalo's neck, and he was left to his certain fate. These
preparations made, there was nothing to do but to return
to camp and wait patiently for news.

Patience is a virtue important if the shikari will be
successful ; and other necessary qualities are foresight,
silence, the faculty of observing every indication of the
tiger's presence, and cunning to outwit so stealthy and
guileful an animal as the lord of the jungle. Nightfall
came without news, and the darkness and stillness of the
sweltering atmosphere was oppressive. Sleep was hard
to woo, and the ears of the watchful and excited Jussoo
were ever strained to catch the distant sounds and night
noises of the jungle. Twice the hollow, unmistakable
yawning call of the tiger came on the sultry air. Whence,
no one could tell, but sleep was impossible till near day-
break, when the wearied eyes closed for a little, and a
cool breeze passed through the tent.

Jussoo's shiny face peeped into the small sholdarry
to give the news that the calf had been killed at earliest
dawn. A cup of hot tea and a rapid toilet did not
take long, and fresh loading was put into the two rifles,
one a single 8-bore, the other a Westley-Richards double
i6-bore, with which the rifle prize had been won. Now
came the critical time, when the machan had to be
mounted without the tiger knowing, as, if he heard
people near his kill climbing trees or cutting sticks, he

3

34 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

would certainly suspect a trap and not return any more.
Jussoo, carrying some eatables in a basket, went up the
path by the stream, making the peculiar call which
gualas always make to lead their cattle. The tree was
silently swarmed and rifles handed up, and Jussoo went
away quickly by another path, still calling to his cattle,
till his voice died away in the far distance. The day was
long and sultry, and the limbs wearied with the con-
strained attitude. Not a cough or a move could be
indulged in, nor yet tobacco if success was to be secured.
Luckily, for a wonder, the flies even were too sleepy and
overpowered by the heat to trouble much, though some
did buzz persistently about one's nose, and could not be
beaten off, as the movement of the hand would surely
betray one's whereabouts. Nothing but the hope of
securing the man-eater which had killed two or three
hundred human beings, and had evaded well-laid plans
already many times, and escaped from the snares of
the clever and plucky Gurkhas for three seasons, could
have induced a comfort-loving mortal to endure to the
end. Twice had he escaped when whole nights had been
spent on the watch for this terrible destroyer of families,
this scourge of mankind. Once he had come when the
moon was gone down, and the crunching of the bones
was the uncertain mark to fire at. Once, in the winter,
it had snowed all night, and in a tree it was cold. It was
not cold now, and patience was the only virtue to be
hung for.

Well, patience was rewarded, for about three o'clock
in the afternoon, after sleep had nearly come unbidden,
with the risk of a dangerous fall (finger on trigger and
two full-cocked rifles balanced on shaky boughs), there
came to the ear faint, uncertain indications that some-
thing was on foot. About three o'clock is the time when

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 35

animals awake from their siesta and stretch themselves
and drink. A sudden start and rattle of stones in the
bed of the stream revealed that a sambur stag had come
to the water and had scented the tiger. He fled up the
glen as if the fiend was behind him, throwing back his
velvety horns to avoid the boughs. Then a slight
crackle of a dead leaf was detected, followed by a scrap-
ing, as of claws on a tree in another direction. All round
in a circle the tiger seemed to have stalked, to scent
for danger before approaching his prey. The intense
excitement of those hours, which seemed moments
and the moments hours, have left an impression which
carmot be effaced, and every incident will come back to
the writer's memory, as if it were happening now while
the story is being written. How the tiger's presence
was felt before he was heard, and heard before he was
seen, could only be realized by having had the experience.
When the tiger's great yellow flanks became visible as
he moved on through the thicket, it was such a slow,
gliding motion that were it not for the black stripes
the eye would fail to catch it, and the ear could detect
no actual sound. When all object for concealment
ceased, and he had satisfied himself that there was no
trap, he walked out into the open proudly, with the air
of a monarch. But a cruel, ravenous monarch. Terrible
in his nature, he seized the poor dead calf and shook it
as a cat does a mouse, snarling fiercely in his wrath, and
commenced to devour the hind-quarters, crouching low
on his belly and crunching savagely, his great yellow
eyes glaring with savage satisfaction. His comfortable
meal was his last, and three shots finished his guilty
career. The first behind the shoulder, when he roared a
mighty roar and bit the dust, breaking his claws on the
rocks ; the second and third, from the double rifle, were

3—2

36 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

in the neck and head, as a precaution against his getting
up again, as tigers have immense vitahty, and have been
known to come to again after lying apparently dead, and
just kUl the shikari who ventures too near, upsetting all
his calculations. One must feel an awful fool if a tiger
escapes for want of a second barrel, and it is a very
common story indeed.

It had been a long wait, but caution is the second most
important virtue in tiger hunting. A heavy boot,
thrown after a sufficient time had elapsed, failing to make
him move, it was safe to come down from the tree, and
soon the shouts of Jussoo from the valley below, in
response to a call agreed upon signalling success, were
heard coming nearer. Before half an hour fully twenty
natives appeared from the jungle paths, and the tiger was
inspected with many ' Wah wahs P and ' Ram rams P
They almost worshipped the slayer of the terrible man-
swag as the deliverer of their homes and families from a
long-experienced dread. The tiger was carried in triumph
to the camp, and the procession along the road received
accessions from goodness knows where, as the villages
are scattered and some way off on the spurs of the hills.
But they had all known of the result by signals from
Jussoo, and great was the joy in the whole district.
The tiger was a fair-sized male, 9 feet 6 inches long, and
had the crooked claw of which Jussoo knew the track. His
whiskers were pulled and taken for charms, and next
day, when the skin was taken off, his flesh was taken away
and divided among the villagers, or sold in the bazaar
at Naini Tal, as a charm against tigers, or a medicine to
cure deficient nervous energy, and other diseases which
would not yield to the treatment of the best hakims.
The return to Naini Tal was one of great satisfaction, as
the cool climate and congratulations of friends were

TIGER-HAUNTED JUNGLES 37

properly appreciated after the sweltering heat below.
The skin and head, tied to a pole, were borne by shouting
natives along the Mall and through the bazaar, amid
great rejoicing at the death of the much dreaded man-
eater.

CHAPTER IV

FOREST SURVEYING

After a time I received from the Lieutenant-Governor
the appointment of Forest Surveyor for the North-West
Provinces.

The duties of that office were to visit in order the several
locaHties where forests exist, and survey and map out
their boundaries and areas, giving careful details of the
timber growing in them, and a report as to the quality of
the timber, and character of the land it grows on. The
scale of the maps was to be one inch to the mile, and
schedules were attached to each sheet of twelve miles
square, giving average of first, second, third, and fourth
class trees per acre growing in the jungle, of the sorts
which were valuable as timber of construction, omitting
the rest of the trees as not of any economic value.

The hill forests of Kumaon extend over an area of
15,000 square miles of actual forest, situated all over the
district, which is about 150 miles long and 100 broad,
bounded on the south-west by the plains of the Bhabar
and on the north-east by the snowy summits of the Hima-
layas and Tibet, on the south-east by Nepal, and on the
north-west by the Alaknanda, a principal branch of the
Ganges. This was a country of considerable extent,
almost as large as Switzerland, and containing half a
dozen of the highest mountains in the world ; the cele-
brated Gangotri, or sources of the Ganges, the most sacred

FOREST SURVEYING 39

place in Hindu mythology, with innumerable minor
ranges covered with almost unexplored forest ; precipices
of fearful height ; enormous glaciers, deep valleys, and
rushing mighty rivers. There was a peaceable, well-
governed population, not too numerous ; things of in-
terest on every side ; and, last but not least, game of all
sorts in plenty. Here was a prospect of independent
work, entirely suited to the taste of a lover of the forests
and the wild beauties of nature. It is generally trouble-
some for private individuals to get very far in the ex-
ploration of the higher hills, owing to the difficulties of
transport. Provisions and camp equipage have to be
carried on the backs or heads of coolies, who belong to
the scattered villages, and have to be taken from their
work of cultivation, which they do not like to leave.
But they are bound by treaty to supply porters from
every village for civil officers travelling on official work,
and come more or less cheerfully. No shirking could be
cdlowed to prevent the surmounting of the most unfre-
quented hills, and every valley and pathless ridge had
to be traversed somehow. The instructions were given
by the secretary of the North-West Provinces Govern-
ment, Public Works Department, to the Forest Surveyor
every six months, and the report and maps had to be
sent in through the Commissioner. So that there was
no official interference in the course of the season's
operations. Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, R.E., was
a kind and approving head of his department.

The climate was always excellent, as one could choose
the elevation according to the season of the year, the
highest hills in the hot weather, while in the cold there
was work in the plains. Naini Tal was the head-quarters
during the rains, when the mapping was done. The
province of Kumaon was the first undertaken.

40 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

It may be premised that the forest survey did not in-
clude the general survey of the country. This had already
been well performed by the trigonometrical survey officers
of the Royal Engineers, whose work had been published
by Government, and very excellent maps existed, show-
ing the exact positions of all the highest peaks and minor
points of all the ridges of hills where cairns of stone had
been erected ; and the courses of all the rivers and
streams were fairly well mapped out. These maps were
the basis of the Forest Survey. The sheets of twelve
miles by twelve were taken on an enlarged scale from the
map, and carried in the form of a book, upon which the
positions of ridges and spurs were drawn in with the
assistance of the prismatic compass and protractor. The
forests were delineated, and areas calculated where
timber grows. The average was taken, in each forest, of
the number of trees per acre, by running a line through
the forest with a 66-foot chain. The contents of each
square chain were counted by the operators. It may be
stated that, as the result of many observations, the general
average of a measurable forest was thirty trees per acre,
of which about seven were first class or over 6 feet in
girth ; and usually there was an equal proportion of second
and third class trees of 4 feet and 2 feet girth, and a
growth of fourth class trees and saplings under 2 feet,
fairly scattered through the forest, besides innumerable
seedlings not counted. This was the normal condition
of the natural forest, where, as the hoary and mature
trees fell from storm or old age, there were generally
younger ones of aU ages ready to take the places of the
dead ones. Thus in natural course the forest, like the
population of mankind, renews itself gradually.

One seldom sees here, as in America, whole forests
devastated by fire, since, owing to the copious rainfall,

FOREST SURVEYING 41

commencing in the hottest season, the growing trees will
not bum. In India the dry grass is burnt on the lower
hiUs every year in November and up to June, but the trees,
except a few dead or fallen ones, resist the fire and scarcely
suffer at all. For the same reason the Indian forests
scarcely ever present the uniform appearance of American
forests, or of artificially formed plantations, where all the
trees are of the same age and height, crowded together
like a field of com.

Where the soil is deep, on the less precipitous slopes and
dells, one sees in the Himalayas magnificent specimens
of giant patriarchs of immense age, measuring 30 and
40 feet in girth, with stems like pillars towering to the
skies ; especially among the deodars, which attain a height
of 200 feet and more, surrounded by their progeny of all
ages grouped together in the most picturesque manner.
No wonder that the natives reverence this noble cedar,
the prototype of the cedar of Lebanon and the Atlas, as
the sacred tree of God. Its timber is most durable and
sweet-scented, and its grain so straight that in some places
they split the great logs into boards to construct their
temples, and into shingles for roofing, which stand the
changes of climate for centuries without any sign of
decay. The forests of Kumaon contain also four different
oaks, chestnuts, sycamores, horse-chestnuts, and many
representatives of the European well known and valuable
timbers. The Pinus excelsa* grows to a great size with
its light blue feathery spines. The silver firf grows on
the northern slopes at an elevation of 12,000 feet,
and forms a dark and bristling jungle, reminding one of
the Black Forest of Germany ; but the size and age of

* Native name, ' Dolchella ' : silver red pine, Pinus excelsa.
t ' Raga ' : silver fir, two species, Picea Webbiana and Picea
Pindrow.

42 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

the mature trees, and height of the stems, are greater
generally in India. There are forests of the spruce,* in
which the stems are 150 to 200 feet high.

On the lower and hotter slopes of the foot hills, up to
7,000 feet, the long-leaved pines, f with red stems and
spines 12 inches long in hght-green tufts, are more
abundant, reminding one of Scotch firs exaggerated in
size and monopolizing the soil. In situations where the
rock comes to the surface, this pine will take root and
hold on to the cliffs in a wonderful manner, every stem
being twisted like a corkscrew, all in the same direction,
left to right, and presenting a most weird appearance.
The cypress tribe is represented in some ranges nearer to
Nepal by the very beautiful and towering Cupressus
torulosa.% It grows only on the sunny slopes over 7,000
feet, in isolated localities, one of which is at Naini Tal,
where some noble trees were growing under China Pahar
150 feet high, with clean stems to near the top. I
measured an old cypress at the back of China 37 feet in
girth, and I have measured several deodars of 40 feet.
These are the principal timber trees which are included
in the list of those reserved by the Forest Department as
of value for timber of construction. The jungles, how-
ever, contain hundreds of other beautiful and excellent
hard-wood trees, as well as various species of oaks and
sycamores, walnut, and the elm-like Celtis austraica,
rhododendrons (of which I have measured stems 15 feet
in girth of various kinds), besides, lower down, the tropical
sal {Shorea robusta) and saj ; while high up near the
snows are the familiar birch and juniper. Box is also
found of good thickness in some of the hills. In some

* 'Kurchella' : drooping spruce, Ai>ies Svtithiana.
t * Chir' : long-leaved pine, Pintis longifoHa.
X Native name, ' Surai.'

FOREST SURVEYING 43

regions the finest forests are so remote from roads that
their value is much diminished. The object of the survey
was to determine the position of all forests, and ascertain
what extent existed within reasonable distance of land
or water carriage. If the river flowing down the adjoin-
ing valley were large enough to float down logs to the
plains, it might then be feasible to construct roads or
timber slides to transport the logs to the water, as
in Switzerland and the Black Forest. This had been
tried in the deodar forests of the Punjab, mostly in terri-
tory belonging to rajahs. But the great roaring torrents
of the Sutlej and its tributaries, rushing in the rainy
season through rocky defiles, had been found so destruc-
tive to the timber floated down that much loss was
occasioned. All such features had to be reported on,
and sites selected for roads and saw-mills.

I have sketched the principal features of the work of
forest surveying, and will now proceed with the narrative
of events, and describe by the way the human inhabitants
and game animals of the hill forests.

CHAPTER V

CAMPS IN THE UPPER FORESTS

The sacred Ganges, celebrated in earliest times and sung
by poets, rises in Garhwal. Its principal branches are
the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda, which issue, under the
latter name, from the hills at Hardwar, a noble and
mighty river, swelled in the monsoon to a huge torrent.
In the dry season a clear stream ; in the hot weather, fed
by the melting snow and glaciers, a cold, white, turbid flood.

The most sacred place in Hindu mythology is Badri-
nath, where is the head source of Ganga in the group of
lofty peaks known as Gangotri, in Garhwal. The adjoin-
ing group of the sacred Nanda is in Kumaon, separated
only by the river Alaknanda. Here are five lofty peaks
rivalling the four of Badrinath, all over 22,000 feet high,
the giant summit of Nanda Devi, 25,749 feet, dominating
the group.

It was to survey and explore the slopes of this vast
labyrinth of mountains, intersected by valleys of immense
depth and filled with huge glaciers, that the present march
was undertaken, to map out its forests and report on its
capabilities. Following upwards the course of the great
river flowing with many windings, one traverses the route
of the pilgrims who come up from Hardwar, passing the
celebrated stations of prayer which commence at Benares .
These are Deoprayag, Nandprayag, Kamprayag, Vishnu-

CAMPS IN THE UPPER FORESTS 45

prayag, and, highest and most sacred of all, Badrinath
and the Cow's Mouth, where issues the sacred stream from
its glacier source. One sees thousands of pilgrims, who
have come on foot from all parts of India to participate
in the benefits which are promised them hereafter. It
is a strange and pitiable sight, that great throng of poor,
starved and worn-out people struggling on with scarcely
a rag to cover their skeleton forms, firm in their ancient
faith, the maimed and sick, old and even blind, feeling
their weary way along a well-worn but most difficult
path, which follows the course of the raging torrent,
sometimes on the flats below by the river, but more
frequently terraced along the face of lofty precipices
1,000 feet above the stream. Many die on the journey
up, or fall into the icy river, where their miseries are ended
and their future is assured. Some, wealthier or fatter,
incapable of traversing the dangerous path, may be seen
borne in kiltas or big baskets on the backs of sturdy
Garh walls. If ever they reach the Cow's Mouth, where
the Ganges issues from a cavern, the cold of the snow
and glacier is pretty sure to produce a deadly chiU, which
kills many of the poor wretches, only used to the fiery
heats of the plains.

This was the route followed as far as Kamprayag,
striking upwards so as to avoid the disagreeables of the
pilgrims' vicinity, often infected with cholera and plague.
There was no question that the upper path over the passes
of Pilkhunta was preferable, though it led some distance
over snow, and involved an ascent of thousands of feet.

In the month of May the sun had fearful power in the
valleys, and produced fevers of the worst kind. To
foUow the ridges, and remain at an elevation of 9,000 feet
and upwards, was desirable but difficult to accompUsh,
as there were not always routes passable for coolies carry-

46 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

ing heavy loads, or ponies even without loads. Nor were
there always villages where cooUes could be got. The
camp was therefore pitched near the highest village, and
excursions made in the lightest marching order to the
neighbouring heights. The baggage consisted of a small
sholdarry tent, 6 feet square, containing a camp bed,
made like a charpai with poles inserted into the four
legs, and a canvas bag open at both ends. A cross-legged
table and bamboo chair, copper chilamchi basin and two
kiltas, or oval covered baskets, cased in deerskin with the
hair on, containing change of clothing, books, and other
articles. These were in charge of a man who came from
the Kangra valley, Taiz Singh by name, a tall, active
Rajput with close-fitting, white garments, and many yards
of spotless white muslin folded round the head. He was
a faithful, honest, and capable servant, who could be
trusted to pitch the tent in a clean and shady spot, and
have his master's shirts and socks always folded and
ready, and to attend on him to perfection, unpacking and
repacking everything with regular exactness, and having
soap and candles ready as required. Taiz Singh was a
gentleman in his manners and ideas, a tall, handsome,
black-eyed, dark-skinned hill-man, with shiny black curls
appearing under his puggaree, and beard and moustache
turned upwards at each side in the most dandy fashion.
He carried the sahib's sword, a big one in a steel scabbard,
always at his side — a symbol of office. Taiz Singh inspired
respect among the villagers, and was withal gentle and
polite, but brave as a lion, as his name (' Swift Lion ')
implied. He followed me in every climate and country,
in plains and hills, and seemed to be attached from feelings
of affection. Sirdar Khan, the Mussulman khansamah,
was in charge of the kitchen arrangements, and had a
small tent for cooking. He had two kiltas stored with

CAMPS IN THE UPPER FORESTS 47

provisions — tinned soups, tea, sugar, rice, and jam — with
sundry spices and condiments for making curry. Flour
and ghee were procured at the villages. There was a
Mussulman bheesty, or water-carrier, with his goatskin
masak, who assisted in the hohachi khana, or kitchen.
Sirdar Khan could with a few copper degchis, or round
vessels, and on a fire of sticks between two stones, turn
out a quite excellent repast ; and his chapatis, or thin
cakes, were like crisp bubbles of thin pastry.

There was a little flock of sheep and goats who marched
with the camp, to supply occasional mutton and fresh
milk for the tea, which was the universal beverage.
There was one old she-goat which led the flock : she would
wait watching, when the tent was struck, for the signal
to march, when, bleating to call the flock, she would start
away along the path quite gaily, followed by the rest.
There were some big, tall, shaggy he-goats, which carried
each a pair of bags made like a saddle of strong goat's
hair, containing some stores, such as rice. The two hill
ponies were led by their syces, one a ' Bokhara ' called
Jacob, a beautiful black, about fourteen hands, with
long wavy tail and mane combed out, his silky coat shining
like a mirror. The other was a gunt or Tibet pony, dun
coloured, sturdy and strong, with shaggy coat and feet
like iron, never requiring shoeing. They were ridden at
times, and were always willing and sure-footed, and could
go over rocks and precipitous ascents anywhere that a
man could climb. They picked their way across the
bridges, where two round tree poles formed the path
across a deep ravine, or swam a rapid-flowing river where
no bridge was possible.

Then there was the Forest daftar or survey-staff, con-
sisting of a native surveyor, Damoodur by name, and an
assistant, who acted also as munshis. They kept the

48 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

accounts, drew out the monthly pay-bills, and paid the
coolies, besides taking their share of plotting-in, and
counting lines of timber through the forest with the chain.
There were six chaprasis with red belts and brass plates
labelled ' Forest Department,' symbols of office, whose
business was to carry the dak and bring out bags of
rupees monthly from the nearest tahsil (treasury) ; to go
on ahead and obtain supplies for the camp from the
villages on a parvana, or authority, from the Deputy-Com-
missioner, ordering every pudhan, or headman of the
village, to furnish supplies and coolies as porters. The
cooUes received four annas a day, or stage, each man.
This was double the old rate of pay for a coolie, an ad-
vantage which the good and much praised Commissioner
Sahib had thought right to procure from the Government,
owing to the scarcity of men, and the hardships often
inflicted by frequent requisitions and the severity of the
work. Each coolie was apportioned a load of thirty sers,
or sixty pounds, which was a heavy burden to carry ten
or twelve miles up and down precipitous paths, often
scarce traversable by goats.

There was a great difference between the villagers of the
lower valleys and the upper hills. The former, dressed
in coarse white cotton clothing, mostly a jacket and loin-
cloth, were wretched, poor, fever-stricken people ; the
latter, a fine, robust, and muscular lot, with sturdy limbs
and jovial manners. They were clad in coarse home-
made woollen jackets and trousers, tight below the knee,
and woollen folded caps. The women wore a coloured
bodice, with a gap of shiny brown skin between that and
the petticoat, which was of strong woollen material.
The loads were often carried by women, who bore them
on their heads, or sometimes on their backs with a strap
over the head.

CAMPS IN THE UPPER FORESTS 49

It was an amusing daily episode to see, when the
cooHes were being started, the rush that was made to
secure the HkeHest-looking loads, and the wrangle which
ensued when they imagined one had got a lighter load
than his neighbours. As care had been taken to weigh
them all with a spring balance, there was little to choose
between the loads, A spring balance is, however, decep-
tive, as it weighs quite differently at an elevation of
10,000 feet to what it does at the level of the sea. It is
no wonder that the inhabitants prefer the Government
of the British Raj when they recollect the oppression of
previous native rulers, who used invariably to employ
forced labour and pay the poor villagers nothing at all.

The direct march from the village of Pana over the
Pilkhunta Pass, crossing a lofty spur of Nanda Devi, was
a long and trying one. From the summit there appeared
quite close northward the huge snowy triple peaks of
Gori Parwat, 22,700 feet high. The snow line ended at
15,000 feet, except in the upper valleys, which were filled by
snow and glacier. Below the snow line were bare rocks and
grassy slopes, where the wild sheep and goats, burrhel and
thar, grazed. There was then a belt of juniper and birch
forest, and below these stretched for miles a thick forest
of various pines, mostly spruce. This was a typical
Alpine region. In the survey it is put down as Lata
Forest, 38,000 acres of timber. The stems of the great
spruce trees {Abies Smithiana) stand out against the
rocky gorges some 200 feet in height. There were some
patches of beautiful feathery cedars {Deodara). One
stem measured thirty feet in girth. It seemed as if one
could step across to the sunlit slopes, but between was a
deep vaUey down miles beneath one's feet. Below could
be heard the roar of the Dhauli river, a snow torrent
rushing from the valley of the Niti, a well-known pass to

4

so THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Tibet. The descent lay through the extensive forest of
Tapoban, extending for eighteen miles eastward, and
clothing the slopes of the valley of the Rishi Ganga, a
torrent-branch of the Dhauli, which comes from the
glacier of Nanda Devi. This forest faced the north, and
consisted of silver fir {Picea Wehhiana) and Pinus excelsa.
It took a week to explore this forest. It was fuU of game,
bears, gooral, and the jerow, or great sambur deer. The
underwood in these regions consists of ringal, or hill
bamboo* {Arundinaria), growing so thickly that it is
nearly impossible to get through it. These bamboos are
very hardy, and make capital fishing-rods 30 feet long,
hollow and light to handle. A long descent in the shadow
of Nanda Devi, trying to the shins, brings one late and
tired to Tapoban, on the Dhauli river, a camp on the route
of the Bhotia traders over the Niti. Here are some hot
springs near the river-bed, and a pleasant bath is obtained.
It is dangerous to bathe in the snow-water, which sweeps
by as white as milk from the quartz rocks of Trisul,
ground fine beneath the glaciers.

Tapoban is a hot place, and there is little space for
pitching a camp. An early start is made in company with
a sahib who is marching up the Niti for shikar, and has
already shot some gooral (chamois of the Himalayas).
He has been after the thar on the heights above, but has
not got any. Leaving the Dhauli river, I enter the side
valley of the Rishi Ganga and encamp above the village
of Rindi.

Here a guide or shikari was engaged from the village
to explore the higher forests in various directions, so
that a near acquaintance could be made with the great

* I have seen large clumps of this hardy bamboo growing and
thriving well in the woods in Ireland, grown from seed sent home
by myself.

CAMPS IN THE UPPER FORESTS 51

central cluster of snow peaks. Nanda Devi is one of the
most notable mountains in these parts, and extends with
its brother peaks of Nanda Kot, Moo Gobin, and Trisul
over an area of ten sheets of the survey, each twelve miles
square, about 1,440 square miles, or 921,600 acres.
From its great masses of snow-fields the Niti, the Rishi,
the Pindar, the Trisul, and other glaciers descend. That
in the Milam valley on the north-east, which will be
visited later on, is thirty miles long. It was impossible
to take the camp up the Rishi valley, as the sides were
too precipitous. The camp was therefore left at Rindi,
and a start was made with three men only from the
village, all well used to snow and glacier and rock climb-
ing, and one a good shikari, Punoo by name. A descrip-
tion of one climb taken from my diary will be given in the
next chapter.

4—2

CHAPTER VI

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS

The animal described in Dr. Jerdon's ' Mammals of India '
as the Ther or Gharal, Hemitragus jemlaicus, is a true
wild goat, here called ' thar ' by the natives. He pos-
sesses true caprine characteristics, a long shaggy coat,
and trigonal horns turned back, peculiar in being very
short and thick. He is about the size of a Lincoln sheep,
but taller, and inhabits rocks and precipices of the steepest
character right at the top of the tree line, here 13,000 feet
high. He is, however, partly a forest animal, not always
a frequenter of open grass-covered hills, like the various
wild sheep. The thar is gregarious. In the summer the
females and young ones are found in herds of ten to a
hundred, and the males in smaller herds, generally higher
up. In the rains the old thar becomes almost solitary,
lying all day in the thick timber, and appearing at early
morn and evening on the grassy slopes above to graze,
and again retreat to the thickets. At the end of the
monsoon an old buck thar is a very big, heavy beast,
very fat, almost black, and with long black hair hanging
down so as almost to cover his thick legs. He is then
very difficult to approach, and a noble quarry for the
shikari, who must work hard to procure a specimen.
The females, called by the Kumaon natives ' therina,' are
more easily approached, and resemble in their habits
very much the chamois of the Alps.

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS 53

The weather had been settled and hot for some time, and
a good many ascents had been made with survey instru-
ments and rifle, starting at daybreak and returning to
camp at nightfall. On this occasion it was determined
to ascend the great precipice which towered north of the
Rishi stream, and to remain out at night in order to ex-
plore still higher ground. Provisions and a kettle and
blankets were included in the impedimenta carried by
a strong hill-man. The shikari, Punoo, was a tall,
active native, clad in the hand-woven woollen coat
and trousers and cap of natural-wool colour, similar to
the colour of the rocks, usually worn by the villagers.
He possessed all the qualities of the best Swiss guides,
quick eyesight and an unfailing instinct as to the sur-
mounting of crags and taking advantage of the trend of
the strata and intervening grassy slopes and crevasses
in the rocks, to pass upwards where the precipice appeared
from below to be insurmountable. The summit was lost
to view, or stood out against the deep blue sky, towering
thousands of feet above the camp like a wall, almost
overhanging where the vertical strata were broken off.
A start was made after early tea, at about 4 a.m., in the
dark. At first the sheep tracks leading to some grassy
slopes were followed. The true pahari climbs with
deliberate steps, never hurrying or getting out of breath,
noiselessly choosing the best place for foothold on rock
or grass, never detaching a loose stone which would be
dangerous to those following him, balancing his weight
truly as he climbs, so as to make no false steps. Light
Enghsh shooting-boots well studded with nails are the
best for the work for those used to boots, though some
prefer grass shoes, which will not slip on rocks. The native
wears grass shoes or goes barefoot. Several thousands of
feet having been surmounted at about one thousand an

54 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

hour, the tracks became less marked, and were only at
times met with, formed by the game. A grassy slope was
followed between two lines of strata, and ravines like
chimneys were passed, where stones were apt to rattle
down and had to be dodged.

Towards noon a halt was made on a ledge of rock over-
looking the valley below. Breakfast being partaken of,
the glasses were used to examine the hillside, and sights
were taken to fix the position of the forests in view ; the
river was scanned descending from glaciers, a white twist-
ing line of foam, hid in places by rocks and boulders. A
black object was seen on a snow bridge. The binoculars
revealed a large black bear 5,000 feet below, crossing the
valley, a mere black speck on the snow and gray rocks.
Tracks of therina were now numerous, and silence was
necessary not to alarm the watchful sentinels of the flock
now reposing in some safe position, where the upward
breeze began to freshen. It was useless to stalk going
upwards, as the scent would soon betray the shikari's
approach. We must round the rock buttress, where the
tracks of the thar and fresh droppings showed that a
large flock had recently passed along to where more
grazing ground existed. There were caves where the
slabs of strata overhung the shaded sleeping-place of
many thar. A well-worn pulpit-like rock was the sentry-
box, where some old female was placed to warn the flock
of danger from prowling snow leopards, white like the
weather-beaten rock.

Following this narrow ledge was dangerous in places, as
one slip on the polished gneiss rock would shoot the unwary
cragsman over the edge to fall into the depths beneath. A
stone dropped here would perhaps strike twice in a descent
of 4,000 feet. The natives crossed barefoot with the utmost
nonchalance, carrying rifle and instruments and their

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS 55

loads. The sahib, carrying two Hght bamboos, walked
slowly in stockings. Two bamboos, 7 feet long each,
shod with iron, are wonderfully useful at this climbing
work, as they enable one to use the arms and shoulder
muscles to assist the leg muscles in raising the weight
upwards, and in descending the slopes they are far better
than one alpenstock, enabling the pedestrian to let himself
down by a series of short steps and bounds, kangaroo -
fashion, taking the strain off the shins. They are handy
also to steady the rifle when firing, being held cross-wise
in one hand, while the rifle rests in the fork. Emerging
from this nerve-trying passage, we found ourselves on
another grassy slope trending upwards towards a narrow
gorge from which no exit appeared. We rested a bit,
concealed by boulders, and scanned the next walls of
rock. It was well this precaution was taken, for, as
Punoo had predicted, we were not far from game. The
motion of an ear caught the eye, and sure enough there
lay a flock of about thirty she-goats and their kids, so
like the colour of the stones that it was difficult to dis-
tinguish them, even though the nearest was not 90 yards
away. Searching for the thicker horns of the males, one
or two could be distinguished lying asleep with legs
doubled up ; and resting the rifle on a boulder and firing
across the ravine, the first shot was successful in killing
a nice young fat buck, which luckily fell against a jutting
rock some 20 feet below. The report, though echoing
like a thunderclap, was not so alarming in a place where
thunder is common and the falling of rocks an hourly
occurrence. But the head of Punoo, showing in his ex-
citement to mark the falling thar, was the signal for a
rush ; and in a moment the whole flock disappeared round
a jutting crag, bounding apparently into the air as if to
certain destruction in the valley below. It is the most

56 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

surprising exhibition of what seems to be miraculous to
see a flock of thar with perfect ease crossing the face of
precipices where apparently no foothold exists, in complete
defiance of the laws of gravity, where a pair of wings
should in all common reason be indispensable to avert a
calamity.

Punoo now decided to explore the grass slopes visible
above the ravine, and soon discovered a practicable
ladder-like ascent. Steady climbing for three more hours
brought us into easier ground, with a well-defined chim-
ney-like ascent and great boulders, which were jammed
where they fell from the crags above. The view was now
magnificent of the great peaks of Nanda Devi, facing us at
a distance which seemed like half a mile, every stone
being clearly defined in the rarefied atmosphere. In
reality, by the map and prismatic bearings, the summit
was twelve miles away. The whole amphitheatre of
mountains, all over 20,000 feet above the sea and 14,000
above the bottom of the valley, reminded one of the
Bernese Oberland from Miirren, but in more gigantic
proportions, with snow and glacier extending for miles
around the great bare peaks, many of them unnamed
and all of them nearly inaccessible and unexplored by
man.

The actual prospect of snow peaks surrounding the
Rindi valley, which probably exceeds the depth of the cele-
brated Colorado canon, comprises the peaks marked in the
Trigonometrical Survey as No. X., to the S.W., 15,805 feet
in elevation ; No. XI., 20,758, named by the hill-men
Nanda Gangoti ; No. XII., 22,385 ; No. XIII., 22,388,
named Moo Gobin ; No. XIV., Nanda Devi, 25,794. These
form an amphitheatre to the south and east. The circle
is completed to the north by the massive summit of
Dunagiri, No. III., 23,317. Visible in places are also

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS 57

the summits of Nanda Kot, No. XV., 22,491 feet, and
the three peaks of Trisul, all within a radius of twelve
or fifteen miles. The bottoms of the valleys, where the
torrents flow from the glaciers, are about 5,000 feet in
elevation. The whole of their upper portions are filled
up with glacier masses and vast snow slopes. The
glaciers to the north are, however, more extensive than
those in view.

The queen of the group, Nanda Devi, stands like the
Jungfrau, high over the others, with precipitous sides.
With the glasses one could see that there were great crags
of white quartz on its northern face, towering perpen-
dicularly above the snow -fields, where no snow could
rest. During the heat of the day one could hear in-
cessantly the distant roar of avalanches echoing like
thunder, and the falling of rocks and the constant murmur
of many torrents in the far-off distance ; and yet one
could see nothing in the whole circle of the amphitheatre
of snow mountains to account for the noise ; all seemed
peacefully sleeping, basking in the brilliant sunshine.
The white courses of the streams shining hke a map at
one's feet seemed quite close, as if a stone could be
thrown on to them. That here in this solitary vastness
a Uttle speck of humanity could stand and look into
the mysteries of the world was impressive.

The day began to wane as we still climbed upwards,
sometimes following the paths formed by the wild animals
up the grassy slopes, sometimes clinging to the crevices
of the rocks overhanging the khud, and worming our
way among the intricacies of broken pinnacles, where
the dwarfed and weather-beaten pines were succeeded
by junipers and aged birch, and where tracks of bears
and snow leopards were often visible. The atmosphere
became gradually colder. Fleecy white clouds began to

58 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

gather about the hilltops. Out of the silence there
came a rushing sound caused by the approach of a whirl-
wind, which carried along a pillar of dust and leaves
wrenched from the trees, which were borne upwards into
the sky, presaging a storm. Tumbling and threatening
masses of clouds came up rapidly, and suddenly there
was nothing to be seen but white mist. Punoo was not
at a loss, but soon discovered a cave under broken rocks,
where shelter could be got from the coming storm ; and
we proceeded to make the place shipshape for the night.
Dry juniper boughs were collected, and a comfortable
fragrant couch was made ready. Some snow was brought
from a ravine near by to melt for water. A fire was lighted
of dry sticks, and the kettle put on. Soon the storm burst,
with torrents of rain changing to hail and snow, like the
report of a lOO-ton gun close to our ears, accompanied
by a blinding flash ; the lightning seemed to cleave the
mountain, where we cowered crouching into the recesses
of the cave. The echoes from the hills came back at
intervals, as if every mountain was falling in universal
chaos. The pinnacle under which we sheltered shook
with a terrible vibration as the thunder rolled, and tottered
as if about to topple over into the valley 7,000 feet below.
The flash of the lightning soon became a continuous
discharge, and the thunder one perpetual roar, quite
blinding and deafening ; but, strange to say, no harm
was done us. The storm raged above and below. The
electric fluid seemed to go right through one and perv^ade
all space. Being on board an ironclad in action sur-
rounded by a whole fleet could not be more deafening
or more terrifying. I have experienced innumerable
thunder-storms, but never one like this, so near and with
such grand and impressive surroundings. Even the
natives who li\'ed in this region were senseless with fear,

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS 59

and thought their last hour had come, caUing on the
Hindu Trinity and the devta of this moimtain to protect
them.

Soon, however, the overcharged atmosphere became
less electric, and the storm passed on up the valley, con-
centrating to expend its forces about the summits of
Nanda Devi, twelve miles away, whence for some time
there came the waves of distant reverberations, repeated
many times by the echoes from the glaciers and rocks,
showing that up there a very pretty racket was still
going on ; till, like all things else, it came to an end, with
sullen and fitful rumblings. By the time the thar
kidneys and brains were cooked and the tea made, the
cloud cleared away and revealed a white, cold scene most
beautiful, and strangely contrasting with the warm and
summer^' conditions of the morning. The natives
regaled themselves with slices of thar's meat roasted on
sticks, and the meal was partaken of with the best sauce .
Punoo dished up his best shikar stories while we smoked
our post-prandial weed, and he improvised a pipe out of a
rhubarb leaf rolled up and held in the hand. Punoo
described how he had stalked a huge buck thar, and got
so close to him that he could almost touch the beast
where he slept with the muzzle of his long matchlock, but
when he pulled the trigger the match went down true
on to the touch-hole and the powder fizzed (all which he
described in pantomime), and the old banduk went off
with a bang which knocked him on to his back. But
the thar, which was the biggest he had ever seen, went
away unhurt, for he had forgotten to place an offering
on the shrine of the devta who had charge of the
mountain, and he of course had tampered with the gun
and withdrawn the golis, or bullets, consisting of six bits
of old iron and some hard pebbles on top of a handful of

6o THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

good gunpowder which the ' Dipty ' sahib had given him ,
The gun, too, had received such injuries that it could not
be used at present, and, in short, he wanted a new gun,
or a rifle, which he hoped the sahib, who was a bara achcha
sahib and a good shot, would kindly give him, not for-
getting a tin of powder and some properly fitting real
leaden bullets. He would take the sahib to a jungle
where were hundreds of big fat thar, all old bucks with
very fine horns.

The night was now fine, and the air clear and cold. The
view from the edge of the precipice was immensely grand.
It extended across the deep valley, dark with pine forest and
crag, at the head of which rose great tiers of snow-fields and
glaciers. The summits shone out clear and white, lighted
by a crescent moon against a luminous dark blue sky in
which the stars sparkled with the intense brilhancy only
seen at high altitudes. The air was still, and not a sound
was heard save the faint murmur of the rivers which flowed
far below. The precipice went sheer down from the edge
of the rock, a fearful chasm. Occasional rumblings and
crashings came with ominous reports on the ear from the
glacier movements, but nothing like so frequently as in
the day-time, when the ice would be melting under the
sun's rays. All was now bound in frost, which was felt
at the altitude of our cave. But a good warm at the fire
which the natives kept up at the cave's mouth, with pine
branches and the roots which dead fallen trees afforded,
made the place look cheerful, and ' tired nature's sweet
restorer, balmy sleep,' soon wrapped us in oblivion.
Dreams of gigantic thar stalked successfuU}' but never
bagged, because the rifle would not go off though the
trigger was frantically pulled, were the last sensations.
Sleeping on juniper boughs with a good blanket wrapped
round one is not so uncomfortable, but an odd point of

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS 6l

stone or rock would occasionally make its presence felt
and a new position advisable. Still, the night passed
with apparent swiftness, and Punoo, watchful for the
morning star, put on the kettle in good time for an early
cup ' that cheers ' and warms.

A start was made just before daybreak, so as to get on
the grassy slopes at the back of the ridge when the old
thar are out grazing. Clambering up over rocks and
freshly fallen snow, we found ourselves on the highest
point of the ridge just as the day began to break. Now
was the time to scan carefully with binoculars the com-
paratively level slopes of grass-covered alp which stretched
to the north. The view at sunrise, when the golden rays
of the dawn tinged the tops of a whole circle of snow
giants, was superbly beautiful. The slight sprinkHng of
snow from the previous evening's storm was rapidly
disappearing from the ground. Following the ridge
eastward, Punoo led the way from mound to mound
with hollows between, carefully creeping to each point
of vantage, so as not to show suddenly before every slope
was examined. The tracks of thar were numerous and
fresh, and the big foot-marks in the soft soil showed that
it was the right place for old males to cross from the
south side among the juniper and dwarf pines to the
grassy side of the ridge for their early browse. Having
proceeded some way up the ridge to higher ground,
we at last got sight of a flock of thar grazing quietly
in the hollow towards the top of the ridge where we were
placed. The wind was right, blowing up from them to
us. We lay flat on our faces behind the ridge. Having
put fresh caps on the rifle, and slowly peeped over a rock,
sure enough they were in sight not 200 yards below,
eight or nine fine black-looking shaggy bucks with their
heads down grazing, coming straight on towards the

62 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

summit, where they must pass to cross the ridge. Pre-
sently they disappeared behind some intervening rocks.
It was an exciting moment, but there was plenty of time
to lay the barrels of the trusty Westley-Richards on the
rock, comfortably pointed on the spot where they were
likely to come into view. It seemed an age, but at last
one head appeared, then another, about 70 yards away,
grazing still quietly without suspicion. A careful ad-
justment of the silver bead against the dark hide, low
behind the shoulder, and a steady, not jerking, pressure
on the light trigger, followed by the crack of the rifle and
the thud into the side (which crack not coming in the
dream stalk accounted for the dream failure). Then the
same with number two, which stood for a portion of a
second in doubt which way to run. The rest of the flock
came on for the pass with a wild rush, and bounded
frantically over the top, leaving their two leaders dead
on the field. Those two heads now adorn my waUs — a
very pretty right and left and a very lucky stalk. Punoo
was delighted, and performed the usual ceremony of
cutting the throats and gralloching, with many pujas to
the devta or deity of the hill. The skins were also re-
moved whole ; the provision kilta supplied breakfast, and
some kidneys were cooked.

What is it constitutes the pleasure derived from shoot-
ing ? Is it the number of head killed without misses, or
the conceived prowess of being a better shot than others,
or what ?

I conceive it to be derived from the successful issue of
plans laid with much forethought and preparation, long
dwelt on in anticipation, often thwarted after much
labour by unforeseen difficulties and failures. This is
certainly applicable to big game shooting : the intense
excitement felt during the stalk, and the remembrance of

AMONG THE SNOW PEAKS 63

agony experienced when bad shooting or other blunders
have caused failure, give a most exquisite satisfaction
when a fine trophy rewards the hunter's skill. The ex-
citement of these moments leaves an agreeable impression
on the memory, while the agony of the misses made lasts
for life. These sensations differ from the pleasure derived
from covert shooting with its hundreds of similar shots
per hour, very few of which can be recollected next day.
The sensation of knocking over pheasant after pheasant
by a crack shot at the covert side, whose extra skill has
been acquired by constant practice, must resemble more
that of the man who, with a long knife, stabs pigs in the
neck as they are swung past his stand by the heels in an
American bacon factory at the rate of 500 in an hour;
and yet men will pay hundreds of pounds for a few days'
such pleasure.

There were some villagers belonging to Lata herding
cattle on the grass slopes, who agreed to carry the heads
and skins and some meat into camp by the gradual
descent to that village, where camp was to meet me, and
gladly accepted the remainder. They had huts not far
off, and hved a life similar to the senners in Switzerland.
They said there were many bears up higher on the hill,
and white leopards, and that most of the thar were also
higher up. The dense forest below was also full of game,
and a tiger had killed some of their cattle. It was a clear
bright morning, and favourable for ascending higher so
as to explore the spurs of Nanda Devi and take sights
for the survey. The ground was easy walking, very
different from the previous day's climb. Following the
ridge upwards, the hills became barer and more wild.
Patches of snow lay in the hollows, and higher up there
were fields of snow. The highest point attained was a
rocky peak seemingly close up under the great snow

64 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

masses, whence angles could be taken from all sides and
the forests plotted into the map. About 4 p.m. a fire
was lighted, and tea partaken of and the thermometer
boiled. The elevation given was 15,000 feet approxi-
mately, the water coming to a boil at the temperature
of 182° instead of 212° Fahr. Five hundred feet to the
degree gives a fairly accurate estimate, agreeing nearly
with the reading of the aneroid, which is m.ore bulky to
carry and liable to injury.

During this day we did not pass over much snow in
ascending, but came down on a snow slope pretty rapidly.
We saw two black bears but could not get near them.
Before entering the forest we came on musk deer grazing ;
and the monal pheasants were feeding under the pine-
trees, but were too wary to be shot at. Punoo guided
us to some deserted huts, where shelter was afforded for
the night, and next day was spent exploring the mag-
nificent forest which clothed the whole slope of the range,
before returning to camp by the gradual descent to the
valley of the Dhauli. These tremendous descents of
8,000 or 9,000 feet are the worst part of the business, as
one always feels what a waste of labour it is to descend
so low to have to come up again ; besides, the heat is
always increasing, and one longs to stay up in the clear
cool atmosphere above. Valleys, where the main roads
are, have however to be followed, and there is no help
for it. Attacks of fever are often the result. Still, the
work was getting accomplished.

CHAPTER VII

DOWN IN THE DEEP VALLEYS BY THE STREAMS

The necessity of leaving the high elevations and following
the course of deep valleys for several marches, in order to
get from one point to another, frequently brings the
Himalayan traveller to the haunts of the best of all
Indian fish for sport, the mahseer. To answer the ques-
tion. What is he like ? one must have seen him in the big
and rapid rivers which flow for great distances through
the lower hills before debouching into the plains. The
larger the river the finer the fish. In the upper reaches
of these rivers, provided there is no snow-water coming
down to chiU the water and render it turbid, there is no
finer fish to give good sport to the angler. He is Uke a
salmon in shape, but somewhat deeper and thicker,
though I have seen well-fed salmon quite as thickly and
powerfully made as the mahseer. He runs from five
pounds weight up to a hundred pounds, or, indeed, almost
any weight, and when taken out of the water after a long
and fierce fight for his life in the rapid rushing torrents
he frequents, there is no more beautiful, clean, bright-
looking fish than a thirty-pound hill mahseer. He shines
like steel and gold. His back is dark blue or gray, changing
on the belly to white and deep yellow. He will rise at
certain seasons, if the water is clear and rapid, to a fly
like a huge salmon-fly, but is oftener taken with a chilwa.

5

66 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

This is a white kind of minnow, which is very plentiful
in all ri\ers, and must be captured with a throw-net, or a
small trout-fly on a lo-foot rod. The natives are very
good at using the circular throw-net, which is whirled
in the air when cast, and covers then a circle of three or
four yards. It is weighted with lead all round, and sinks
rapidly to the bottom. When drawn in, the fish are found
taken in the side pockets, which enfold them as the net
closes up. This net cannot be conveniently used by
people who wear clothes.

An ordinary salmon-rod is no use for big mahseer — at
least, not in my experience. There were some excellent
fishermen at Naini Tal, who used to fish all the best
rivers very successfully, and spend much of their leave
marching along the valleys of the Ram Ganga, Kosila,
and Dhauli, and other rivers. These men always used a
hill bamboo or ringal, 30 feet long, which springs from
the handle like a Castle Connell rod. A strong grooved
butt is lashed to the lower end, and a reel attached,
6 inches across, carrying 200 yards of strongest silk line.
Fixed rings are bound on the rod, through which the line
will run freely. Where there is plenty of room you can
cast the spinning bait, like a fly, right across the rapid
without danger of injuring it, the bamboo being so limber.
You drop it gently in the back eddy and spin it across
the stream. If there is a mahseer Ijang in the still water,
and you have skill enough to play the chilwa naturally,
he will follow it across the current and take it with a
rush. The larger the minnow the better chance of a big
fish going for it. When you feel him, just look out and
keep your finger clear of the line. Away he darts down
the stream, and out flies 200 yards of line before you can
stop him. Often you must run along the bank over
rocks and shingle, giving him the butt all the time, and

DOWN IN THE DEEP VALLEYS BY THE STREAMS 67

hoping he will stop before the bamboo is bent double or
something breaks. If your cast is the best treble salmon-
gut with two strong swivels, and the line be sound and
the hooks extra strong, you may at last get a pull on him
in the next deep pool, where he will go to the bottom and
try and rub himself clear against the rocks. If he fails
he will sulk for some time, and you can wind up for a
second rush. You shout for a companion or a native
assistant with a gaff, but it is long enough before the
gaff is wanted. If you fail to bring him to the surface
you must throw stones in to rouse him, and then away
he shoots again for the rapids, springing clean out in the
air like a dolphin, his golden sides glistening in the sun.
Then slack the line a little as he faUs with a splash into
the clear green water, and keep it taut again till you bring
him into a shallower place where he cannot sulk. You
have to tire him out, and by bringing his nose to the
surface you can exhaust him at last, the slender long top
of the bamboo always springing as he flounders and plunges
with fresh efforts to renew the fight and run for the deep
pools below. If he ever gets a straight haul on the line
he will smash it with one stroke of his strong tail, but
he cannot do so if the point of the rod be kept steadily
up. At last — after these performances have been re-
peated perhaps many times — you can haul him up into
the shoal-water, where is a nice flat sandy beach, and then
the gaff may be tried. Be sure it is held in skilful hands,
or all your long struggle wiU be in vain. When you see
him out safe on dry land, then, and not before, you may
say you have fought a good fight and won a noble prize.

Our camp was pitched on a shingly flat close to the
dak bungalow of Bagesar, where the clear bright stream
of the Sarju river flowed close by, winding through a
beautiful valley of rather wider character than is usual

5-2

68 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

in the Himalayas. Consequently the waters were not so
much hemmed in, and ran placidly, with occasional deep
wide pools alternating with sharps and shallows where
the stream could be crossed by wading. The river was
spanned opposite the bungalow by a primitive bridge of
native pattern, built out of the materials on the spot
— straight pine-trees and round stones. The original
plan of bridge - building in all mountainous countries
seems to be identical. It is an outcome of the desire of
two parties of men to meet across the river. Each
builds a bracket-like structure with beams weighted under
piles of stones, and with other tiers of lighter beams on
top stretching further out over the water till they meet
in the middle. Such was the old native sangha bridge at
Bagesar, similar to many in Switzerland, and glorified
in the eighth wonder of the world, the great cantilever
bridge of Forth. Fishing for mahseer, which abound in
the river, was carried on with varying success, two of the
party going up stream each day and two down. The
weather was delightful and not too hot, this being the
cold season ; the water rather on the clear side, but
neither turbid from melting snow nor too scanty or
transparent, as fishermen seem often fated to find it.
The early meal being partaken of at tent doors, and
rods and tackle overhauled, a start was made in the
gray morning, when the air felt bright and crisp. The
sun's rays were still slanting across the valley, and the
river sparkling in the morning light or, in some reaches,
still in deep shadow, where the air was cool, the down-
valley night-breeze not having yet changed for the upward
air current, which invariably springs up and increases
with the sun.

To procure fresh chilwas a native is following the shallows
with his throw-net on his arm, his dark naked figure

DOWN IN THE DEEP VALLEYS BY THE STREAMS 69

outlined against the sparkle of a broad pool. He steals
forward, and, suddenly swinging the net round his head,
shoots it out with a whirling motion which spreads its
folds to their full extent, and it drops on the water,
enclosing a whole shoal of little fishes. To choose a good-
sized chilwa, 6 inches long with silvery shiny sides, and
attach it to the flight of three double hooks, is the work
of a few moments, when the angler, full of eager anticipa-
tion, is ready to seize the moment of early day when the
fish may be feeding. He cannot get his line out quickly
enough, his excitement is so great ; but at last it swings
clear across the swirling water at the head of a deep and
dark green pool. The shining boulders, which appear
with great backs, and create a rapid eddy round their
polished sides, must surely be the lurking-places of huge
mahseer. The bait spins nicely, just like a fish which has
met with an accident and struggles over, showing its
white, glistening belly. The hand on the rod trembles
with anxiety to strike at the right moment when the fish
makes his rush, pursuing the bait across the current and
taking it well down at the last spin. Alas ! the pro-
gramme does not come off. The line is pulled back
through the large fixed rings and again swung out with
a longer slack right across the stream, and drawn up
cunningly with jerking motion to resemble the natural
play of a hunted chilwa, never resting long enough for
the fish to see the transparent gut or the swivels on it, but
not hauled frantically through the limpid flood. Surely
a big fish stirred that time, and came a good way after the
bait, as a curl on the surface caused by a great tail, like
the 6-inch blade of an oar, testifies. He had a good look
at it, but didn't quite like it ; he will not come again.
Steadily casting and playing the chilwa over every portion
of the pool, now balancing one's self on a convenient

70 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

boulder, and stooping low so as not to scare the watchful
fish, now wading out into the gravelly shallows half-way
across the stream so as to reach the rushing current over
there under the high bank — all expedients are tried, but
no fish will bite.

The sun gets higher and the day advances. Yet the
game goes on without result. After the hurry and excite-
ment, things seem to fall rather flat. One's arms get a
bit tired wielding a 30-foot rod, light though it be, and
something seems wrong with the reel. The chilwa, alas !
becomes draggled and will not spin, and a new one has
to be adjusted and a fresh pool sought. Here, however,
great oak trees hang over the very place where one is
certain a big mahseer is lying ready to be caught. The
pangs of hunger are beginning to be felt, and the angler's
temper gets short. If he doesn't get a fish in the next
three throws he will go to breakfast. He takes four throws,
and a fifth, and not a fish will stir. He sulkily retraces
his steps in a very hot sun back to camp.

The pool below Bagesar is wide and deep, and a temple
stands by the river, and there is a ghat like those at
Benares, where the bodies of dead Hindus are burnt, and
the remains thrown into the sacred waters. The souls
of the faithful must thus attain future happiness, whose
bodies are returned to the all-embracing bosom of holy
Ganga. The drop returns to the ocean, so the soul to
its Creator. Simple faith of Hindu and Buddhist alike.
The realistic features of this beautiful religion, however,
are not so beautiful in actual experience. No bait or fly,
no matter how alluring, would ever stir a fish in this likely-
looking pool.

Whether the mahseer migrates and goes down to the
plains, where the water becomes warm and clear, is a
question which observation alone can solve. It is certain

DOWN IN THE DEEP VALLEYS BY THE STREAMS 71

that in the lower reaches of the great rivers, where the
white mud gets deposited, and the water flows out into
the plains and ceases to tumble over rocks like a roaring
torrent, that at certain seasons excellent fishing is ob-
tained, and the fish run very big — seventy pounds or a
hundred pounds is not uncommon. Here it is best to
fish from an elephant, as the rivers are far too big to fish
from the bank, and wading is not very safe. Alligators
of immense size, which abound in the plains, can come
up almost into the lower hills, and naturally interfere
with mahseer fishing.

Of course, in the rains, when these rivers rise into
immense cataracts, fishing ceases. It is therefore a critical
thing to hit off the right moment and the right place to go
to enjoy the pleasures of mahseer fishing to perfection,
and the movements of the fish require, as in the case of
salmon, more study. I have seen great shoals of big
mahseer following one another in strings, all going up
stream in the clear waters of the Kosila. This was in
the month of May. I have fished successfully for mahseer
from August to November, and in lower streams all
through the cold weather, and have had both bad and
good times ; but the good times made up for the bad,
and it is a noble sport. The pleasures of fishing are
enhanced by the beautiful scenery and wUdness of the
numerous rivers which cut through the Himalayas ; also
there is always a likelihood of getting a shot at game,
big and little, in the neighbourhood of the rivers, and
a gun should be carried by a chaprasi accompanying
the fisherman. A good gun-bearer, who will be always
close by at the proper moment, and will hand the second
gun to the shooter and not run away, is a valuable man,
and one not to be ill-used or scolded, much less beaten.
Rather should he be treated as a friend and a gentleman,

72 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

which in feeling and manner he ver\' often is. Some
people think that the ' nigger,' as they call him — though
he is no more a negro than a red native of Canada is an
Indian — cannot be managed except by thrashing, and
that the only language he understands is gross abuse of
himself and his maternal relations. I have in many years
never but twice had occasion to strike a native, and have
found both hill-men and plains-men, paharis and daissis,
Mussulmans and Hindus, high caste and low, as a rule
most faithful and sincerely attached to the sahib whose
service they have undertaken and whose salt they have
eaten ; and in many cases I have met with men whose
courage, high principle, and honourable feeling would do
honour to the most educated Christian gentleman.

CHAPTER VIII

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE

On the vast ridges of elevated mountain masses which
constitute the Himalayas are found different regions of
distinct character. The loftiest peaks of the snowy range
abutting on the great plateaux of Central Asia and Tibet
run like a great belt across the globe, falling towards the
south-west to the plains of India. Between the summit
and the plains, a distance of fifty to seventy miles, there
are higher, middle, and lower ranges, so cut up by deep
and winding valleys and river-courses that no labyrinth
could be found more confusing or difficult to unravel.
There is nowhere any tableland, as at the Cape or in
Colorado, with horizontal strata of rock cut down by
water into valleys or canons. The strata seem, on the
contrary, to have been shoved up and crumpled in all
directions by some powerful shrinkage of the earth's
crust, due perhaps to cooling ; and the result is such a
jumble of contorted rock masses, that it looks as if some
great castle had been blown up by dynamite and its walls
hurled in aU directions. The great central masses, how-
ever, consist generally of crystalline granite, gneiss, and
quartz rock, protruding from the bowels of the earth and
shoving up the stratified envelope of rocks nearly six
miles above sea level. Six miles is not a very great
rugosity on a globe of the size of the world, but it amounts

74 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

to a good deal of climbing and many changes of climate
when you attempt to surmount it. The higher you get
up, and the further from the foot hills, the rougher and
more difficult becomes the climbing ; the valleys are
deeper and more cut into ravines, the rocks more fan-
tastically and rudely torn asunder, and the very vitals
of the earth exposed ; while the heights above tower to
the skies. The torrents rushing from under the glaciers
which flow from the snow-clad summits, roar and foam,
eating their way ever deeper into the misty gorges. The
vegetation becomes more and more of a European
character and reminds one more of Switzerland, without
the cockney element which destroys the charm of the
Alps ; and the natives become more hardy, self-reliant,
and interesting.

I will now describe a trip to the higher valleys and across
the snowy range. It was in June, 1864. The party con-
sisted of four, the Hon. Robert Drummond, B.C.S., brother
of the then Lieutenant-Governor North-West Provinces,
Henry Hodgson (on avisit to the writer), Lieutenant-Colonel
Smyth, Inspector of Schools, North-West Provinces, and
myself, on leave. Stores were laid in at Almora to last
three months, consisting of tinned soups and meats for
emergencies, ammunition, oatmeal, groceries in bags, and
green goggles to protect the eyes when crossing snow.
Warm woollen clothing was taken, and tents and camp
equipage of the lightest, divided into loads of thirty sers,
or sixty pounds each. Flour and rice, milk and ghee,
could be bought at most places.

Ponies were taken to overtake the baggage and servants
gone ahead to Pithoragarh, four or five marches east of
Almora,. The lower hills looked very much scorched up
by a blazing sun, and the air was thick with the dust rising
from the sweltering plains to southward, and smoke from

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE 75

numerous jungle fires. The road, cut out just wide enough
for horses and foot passengers to wind a zigzag along the
ridges, or dip into lesser valleys, only to climb again to the
tops of similar ridges, was anything but a straight one :
but was fairly good and monotonously picturesque.
Occasional villages nestled in hollows, or on slopes with
terraced fields, and streams ran in water-courses for irriga-
tion, or trickled down their rocky channels, or turned
primitive corn-mills. The houses of the Kumaon peasants
are of stone, roofed with shingles or flags, with small
balconies and verandahs not unlike those of many parts
of Switzerland ; and the people looked fairly well-to-do,
cleanly clad in white cotton garments, the women working
hard in the fields while the men smoked their hookahs
and nursed the babies. Their lithe figures are well
proportioned, and their carriage erect, from carrying loads
on their heads.

At Gangoli Hat we put up at a dak bungalow, where is
a magnificent sacred grove of deodar trees. Coming out
of the glaring sun, you find yourself suddenly almost in
darkness, under the shade of a dense canopy of almost
black foliage, the great stems of the oldest trees standing
close together, surrounding an ancient shrine. The
younger trees cluster on all sides like the children of the
old patriarchs, which look as if they might be 3,000 years
old, so massive are their giant boles.

The bark of the older trees is black, lined out with
silvery cords, and the stems give the idea of great strength
from their perfect proportions and great spreading roots,
while the younger trees, with glistening feathery tops,
make an agreeable contrast. It is like entering a great
cathedral, cool and restful, most impressive : there is no
sound but the musical murmur of the light air in the
branches high overhead, and even the flies do not bustle

76 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and disturb you here. Next day we walked down into
the deep and hot valley of the Ram Ganga, a branch of
the Sarda river which joins the Kali at Rameswar. This
river comes down through a deep gorge from the slopes
of Nanda Kot, but does not issue from any glacier ; so
its waters are clear and not too cold for mahseer. We
fished with salmon flies, bathed in its cool waters, and
enjoyed our tiffin by the river, which looks, as it swirls
over great smooth boulders, like any Scotch salmon river,
while above on the grassy slopes are great pines like Scotch
firs. The walking on these slopes is terribly slippery,
from the carpet of long spines of the chir-trees, and big
nails in one's boots are much needed. A good iron sus-
pension bridge crosses the stream, and leads to Pithora-
garh, where the officers of a detachment of Gurkhas
entertained us next day, and reported having taken some
beautiful thirty-pound mahseer.

Pithoragarh is on an open plateau, with villages and
much cultivation, and there are a few bungalows. The
descent to Askot, and thence down to the valley of the
Gori Ganga, is hot and steamy. This is indeed a hot and
deep gorge, with splendid forests of very tall chir pines
clinging to the sides of the towering hills, which spring
straight up from the river banks. Palm-trees also mingle
with the pines, and vie with them in the graceful curves
of their black stems and feathery heads. Dayhght
scarcely reaches here, the sky-line being some thousand
feet above the river and almost overhead among the
distant tree-tops ; and the icy water, white with quartz
mud from the Milam and other glaciers, sweeps by in a
vast volume of water 70 yards wide. Here there are
leeches on every stone, which fasten on your legs and
suck your blood with great avidity if you do not use
precautions in the shape of thick puttees for protection.

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE 77

One of us, wearing only stockings, had thirty bites and
lost half a pint, and from tearing off the venomous brutes
suffered a good deal of irritation. There are hundreds
of little flies also, called moras, which buzz round in an
innocent sort of way and light on the under-sides of your
hands and exposed places ; most noxious pests, for if
they succeed in getting half a minute unobserved they
will insert a poison under the skin, which makes a round
red blister. Very hungry mosquitoes also abounded in
this valley, but they are gentlemen beside moras. There
were big yellow gadflies also, which stuck swords in
through one's clothing ; and even the house flies, which
swarmed in myriads, had nasty stings. Camping here
was not all joy, and with six different kinds of poisonous
wounds in one's body it was not easy to come up smiling.
Our carriers were seized with a holy horror also of the
evil spirits which abound in this mysterious region.
They stated that the jungles were also haunted by jungle
men, who had no houses and wore no clothes and lived
on carrion. If we went up the Gori river,* where no path
existed, we should certainly never return alive. How-
ever, as the valley was left blank in the maps, and the
forests under Chipula Hill were magnificent and very
extensive, I was the more anxious to explore the haunted
jungle.

Sending our heavy camp with Mr. Drummond by the
road which follows the Kali river, Hodgson and I started
with light equipage and two servants up the Gori. Leaving
the road, we wound our way through dense jungle up
the left bank of the river, and stumbling among great
rocks, we found a path through dense forest and masses
of creepers. We came at last out on the heights above,
where the caves of the wild men were said to be. It was
* The branch of the Kali coming from Milam.

78 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

certainly a weird and uncanny sort of jungle. There
were troops of great black-faced monkeys, langurs — the
biggest and most human-like with snow-white beards and
hair — which swung from branch to branch by their long
prehensile tails, and grinned and scoffed at us with hollow-
sounding roars. We did not see the wild men's homes, but
one very poor-looking, black, lean man came and pointed
us out the best track. He certainly had not much in
the way of clothing, and carried a diminutive kulhari, or
axe, with which he was ingeniously scooping out a piece
of hard timber into something resembling a bowl. He said
it was to boil water in. He certainly looked the nearest
thing to what Darwin would collect as a specimen of a
link in the chain of ape-begotten humanity. He talked,
however, Hindustani, or what passed for that language ;
and being asked if he had ever seen a monkey light a fire
and cook his food he replied, with quite an intelligent
smile, as if he was not going to be humbugged, that only
man could cook food.

At last, towards nightfall, we came to camp in a charm-
ing grassy dell, where a clear stream ran swiftly among
beds of lovely flowers, and then tumbled into space over
a flat ledge of rock into the valley below. Opposite, at the
head of a great amphitheatre of precipices,* the fine snow-
peak of Chipula towered above our heads. It was a
lovely evening and a beautiful spot. There was a water-
fall shooting down opposite off a similar ledge of rock :
by counting the seconds and watching a particular spot
in the white water descend to the bottom, I made the
height 1,900 feet. The strata happened here to be lying
nearly horizontally, with bands of harder rock which was
hollowed underneath and protruded all round the circus
like a cornice. We pitched our small tent here and
* Like the Cirque de Gavarnie, but in capital letters.

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE 79

bathed in the stream, but the moras and mosquitoes took
most unfair advantage while we dried and dressed our-
selves. There were tracks of bears ; and gooral, or
Himalayan chamois, were seen on the precipices, but out
of range. Here inhabit the chir pheasant, the koklas,
and the Argus with his scarlet eyes and blue horns and
wattles, and the monal is found further up. These jungles
are full of beautiful shiny - leaved evergreen trees ; and
shrubs of many uncommon kinds and orchids abound,
clinging to the stems of the oaks. There are several
kinds of feathery-leaved acacias, and many kinds of
flowering creepers, which hang from branch to branch.
Box-trees are occasionally met with higher up, and rhodo-
dendrons and magnolias of several kinds abound, and as
to ferns, the profusion of varieties is incredible.

Next day we moved our camp to a place called Kunaar,
where there were no villages or inhabitants, right under
the peak of Chipula, which is 13,000 feet in elevation and
has a considerable cap of snow. The hot weather was
melting it rapidly, and in the silent night the thunder of
repeated avalanches woke us, as if just above our tent.
We camped on a nice grassy slope with a pond of water,
and when the bheesty went to fill his masak, he was con-
fronted by a herd of thar, which were coming to drink.
He ran to the tent in a great hurry, but on discovering
our camp the thar had made tracks into thick jungle.
There were signs of every kind of game and wild beasts,
and we determined to be upon the grassy slopes at very
early dawn. There were some very jagged-looking rocky
precipices, which the thar frequented.

Next morning we were out when the morning star,
Mercury, just twinkled above the horizon. No streak of
daylight had yet appeared, but there was the cold feeling
in the air which precedes the dawn. Climbing steadily

8o THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Up the slopes, we separated to take different beats,
Hodgson below and I above the rocks. He was more
fortunate, and shot two thar ; while I only got one long
shot, and missed from blundering incautiously over the
tops of one of the many ridges with ravines between.
There were two fine old bucks grazing, which, from the
similarity of their colour to the dark rocks, we did not
notice till they saw us and bolted over the next ridge.
Peeping carefully over the next, my shikari quickly put
down his head and beckoned to me. It was my good
fortune to see two musk deer grazing quietly not lOO
yards off. They are really pretty little deer, most grace-
ful, with dark brown, red, and gray coats of a wiry sort
of hair like porcupine quills. Their little pointed horns
and great black eyes and noses are striking, and their
little feet with four spreading toes are useful for passing
over soft snow. Their gambols on the very edge of a
frightful precipice were watched for some time, till the
buck seemed alarmed at something, perhaps a snow
leopard. Creeping behind the rocks above, he stood for
a moment on the point of a rock, scenting danger some-
where, and I was lucky enough to drop him with a bullet
behind the shoulder. The other made tracks, and the
snow leopard put in a sudden appearance, but then
vanished before he could be covered with the second barrel.
The snow leopard* I came across several times in the
highest ranges. He is white with brownish spots, and
not so big as a common leopard ; a beautiful animal with
a soft and pretty skin. They are not uncommon, and
do much damage among the sheep and goats of the
Bhotias, who keep big dogs to protect their flocks.

The musk deer {Moschus moschiferus) is found above

* Fe/z's uncia. The ounce, described by Jerdon as found at 9,000
to 18,000 feet elevation.

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE 8i

8,000 feet, and very high up near the snow, in birch and
other forests. It is a slender, graceful little animal,
smaller than a roe deer, and has the upper canine teeth
very much lengthened, hke the tusks of a walrus. They
are quite 3 inches long, and stick out below the animal's
chin. It is not quite clear for what purpose these tusks
are intended. They would, however, inflict a severe
wound if the animal struck down with them. The male
has a curious bag or pod under his body, which contains
quite a quantity of stuff like brown seeds. The musk
pods are worth their weight in silver, and are an article
of commerce among the hill-men, who hunt them steadily,
so that the animal is getting very scarce. The smell from
a fresh musk pod is nearly as strong as a skunk, but not
quite so noxious. The monal pheasants were plentiful
on Chipula Hill, and we took our shot-guns in the after-
noon to secure some specimens. They take a lot of big
shot to knock them over, and are very hard to get near.
In the daytime they haunt the ledges of rocky precipices,
and when disturbed shoot off and down into the vaUey
below like a flash of blue lightning, the brilliant peacock-
like neck, which contrasts with the rufous breast and the
white patch on the back, catching the eye. Their plain-
tive shrill cry, between a whistle and a screech, gives
warning to others of danger near ; and if by chance you
drop one with a rapid shot, his heavy, plump body, nearly
as big as that of a goose, generally falls half a mile away
down in the dense jungle below the khud. In the even-
ings and mornings you can stalk him as he feeds under
the great pine-trees, rooting for seeds and insects in the
flower-spangled grass. He will, however, seldom let you
get within shot, and runs a long way before taking flight ;
but he can fly very rapidly, with strong strokes of his
short wmgs, fanning out his broad tail like a capercailzie as

6

82 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

he shoots away. His skin having become an article of
commerce for ladies' hats, he will doubtless disappear
from his native hills.

The next march was a trying one, for, having got up at
4 a.m. to have a final hunt for thar in the precipices, which
produced nothing but one gooral, we struck camp after a
hurried breakfast and started downhill, intending to
cross the valley and then encamp at the foot of a high
pass which leads to the valley of the Kali river, where
Mr. Drummond waited for us. The descent was hot,
down a roughish khud into the bed of the stream, which
was nearly dry and all rough shingle, 5,000 feet in
three hours. Then began the ascent up the dry bed
of another stream (the Taijam Gar), and following that
for three hours we kept steadily on, expecting to find
water and camp for the night. Alas ! there was no water,
and not even any snow to melt ; so we clambered on and
on, always over rocks, under the shade of enormous
sycamores and horse-chestnut trees, a perfectly primeval
forest. There was no path but the shingly stream-bed ;
and if we tried to force our way through the jungle, it
was a hopeless tangle. The coolies, with baggage and
tent, though excellent carriers, were left far behind.
Still we climbed upwards, hoping to reach the summit
of the pass (called the Nari Danda) before nightfall.
Tramping since 4 a.m. was not a good preparation for
this climb ; knees and shins began to feel a strange stiff-
ness as if the joint-oil was exhausted ; sitting down was
fatal, as the knees seemed to stiffen up at once. The
rays of the setting sun were on our backs all the afternoon,
for we were going eastward, and a June sun is not kind.
Water there was none, not even a trickle from a friendly
rock. The top of the pass surely must soon be reached,
the steepness increasing ; at last it seemed to come into

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE 83

view against the sky ; but on reaching it there was another
height above it, and then another, and so on for five or
six times.

Suddenly there was a revelation. There stood over
the stream-bed on a grassy slope a pine-tree, the like of
which I had never before seen. Every pine and fir in the
hills I was absolutely familiar with, but here was a strange
and new and beautiful pine-tree like the old familiar
Scotch fir, but black in the stem and with much shorter
spines, and with cones much smaller even than the Scotch
fir and oval in shape. Was this a new discovery in forest-
ology ? The thought was too exciting, and forgetting
the weariness of the tired limbs, I proceeded to climb up
and get specimens of leaves and cones, and to make notes
of the new discovery. Hurrah ! Here was a grand
reward for a hard day's work : before us there stood an
entire forest of the new pine-tree, and at last the real
summit of the pass. We sat down to rest and watch the
last rays of the setting sun shining on the Nari Danda
and the stems of these new wonders. I had already
decided to christen them and make a name among
botanists, but, alas for the vanity of human ambitions !
the trees turned out to be the Pinus Brunoniana, inhabit-
ing Nepal, of which this was the western limit. But the
finding of it on Chipula Hill did freshen up my weary
limbs and make me feel quite rested. In a short time our
shikaris came up, who were as anxious as we were to
reach the next village and get food and water.

Luckily, there was a good path leading down the pass
to the village of Guladi, where we expected to find our
servants and camp pitched, and we started again wearily
on the downward tramp. The height of the pass was
fully 4,000 feet above the village, and we could see lights
below us some four or five miles off. Strange to say, on

6—2

84 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

this range, the Nari Danda,* there was no water any-
where, and we suffered from extreme thirst. The natives,
however, found some rope-Hke creepers hanging from the
branches of the trees, which they cut across with their axes.
We held our leather drinking cups under the fresh-cut
creeper till a good supply of clear water flowed into the
cups, and we quenched our thirst delightfully in the
native fashion. Taiz Singh, my faithful jamadar, who
had been sent on to Guladi village by the Kali river in
charge of the heavy baggage and tents, luckily had a head
on his shoulders, and getting anxious about our non-
arrival, had sent a chaprasi with torches ready up to some
shepherds' huts, to await our coming and signal by torch
when we got over the pass. We met the chaprasi, who
was looking out for us ; and when we appeared his joy
was great, as they had almost given us up and imagined
that something had befallen us from the evil spirits of
this deserted jungle. Our signals were answered from
below by waving lights, and we presently met several
kind men from the village who had come up to guide us
to our camp. The sound of rushing waters met our ears,
and we ran to the banks of a rapid stream. Hodgson
could not resist a plunge bodily into the stream, and did
not suffer, though the temperature was about freezing,
the water coming from the melted glacier. When we
did get safely to the village we were escorted by quite
a procession of torch-bearers, and arrived about midnight
to find an excellent dinner with hotch-potch soup and
fowl ready, and Sirdar Khan Khansamah in spotless
clothing standing ready to wait on us. The hot tea with
excellent milk was what we did best justice to, and we
turned into comfortable beds to sleep, such sleep as the
tired only know. Next day was Sunday, and we slept
* Bafida means a path or ridge.

FORESTS AND RANGES OF THE MIDDLE ZONE 85

till noon. On waking and attempting to stand up, I
found my knees almost locked and unbendable. Taiz
Singh, who understood the art of shampooing thoroughly,
soon restored the action of the joints, rubbing in plenty of
salad oil ; and the day of rest was thoroughly appreciated.
We had done three long marches and close on 14,000 feet
up or down, and been on our legs twenty hours almost
on end.

CHAPTER IX

THE UPPER VALLEYS AND COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS

We were now about to enter the upper valleys of the
great Himalayan range. The province of Kumaon, under
British rule, includes the country of the Bhotias up to the
confines of Tibet. The name Bhotia applies to the upper
hill tribes, which are not Hindustani and not Hunia, but
an intervening race speaking both languages generally,
their own being of an intermediate type. In the Kumaon
province there are the districts of Bians, Dharma,
Chaudans ; also Juhar and the Milam and Niti valleys.

The most difficult portion of the journey to the summit
of the range lies where the traveller emerges from the
deep valleys of the lower hills through the most precipitous
defiles to the upper Himalayas, where the valleys are
broader and more open, the climate much cooler, and
instead of dense jungle there are grassy slopes and tall
pine forests.

The route lay along the course of the Kali river, which,
rising under the cluster of snow-clad peaks which form
the main divide between British territory and Tibet, de-
scends through the Bians valley, and forms the boundary
between Kumaon and Nepal, It is joined at Titlakot
by the Dhauli, which comes down from the Dharma
valley. Between the two lies the district of Chaudans,
which culminates in the snowy peak of Irvajung, 21,500

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 87

feet. On the Nepal side stand Namjung, 18,470, and the
very conspicuous peak of Api, 20,000 ; mountains little
known to fame and never explored by white men. Above
Titlakot commences the country called Bhot. The
Bhotias are a fine highland race, possessing some of the
Tartar character of the Tibetans. They are a most
intelligent and industrious people, and live by trading ;
also they grow some barley and oats in their valleys, and
keep sheep, goats, cattle, yaks, and numerous ponies,
which they breed and graze on the grassy slopes of the
upper hills. The Bhotia ponies, called gunts, are notori-
ously good, sturdy, sure-footed animals, twelve to thirteen
hands high, and can carry any weight. They climb any-
where a man can go, and their feet are so hard that they
require no shoes. The religion of the Bhotias is allied
to Buddhism, but they believe largely in fairies or deities
of the hiUs, and they are not particular about caste.
They spin and weave the hair and wool into strong rough
cloth — of which their coats and loose trousers are made —
and blankets, which are heavy and soft to keep out the
cold. They migrate south in the winter to the lower
vaUeys, and in the summer cross into Tibet and bring
down salt and borax, which they get from the Hunias,
on goats' backs ; and they return northward with flour
and rice. Their villages are built of stone, with balconies
and flat roofs of mud ; and numerous poles surround the
houses with white flags, which flutter in the breeze to
keep off the evil spirits.

To reach this country one must pass through the defile
of the Kali river, which is very deep and narrow, cut
down between a whole cluster of lofty peaks, for four long
marches. The river roars perpetually between precipices
of rock, the height of which must be anything up to
10,000 feet above the river, covered with dense jungle of

88 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

spruce, silver firs, and pines of the usual sorts, besides
sycamores, horse-chestnuts and oaks. Sometimes the
path rises to pass the top of a precipice i,ooo feet above
the stream, then again it descends by steps cut in the
rock to the very edge of the torrent. The next out-
jutting crag is more difficult to negotiate, and iron pegs
have been let into the face of the rock in places, to support
a gangway made of poles and loose stones laid on top,
overhanging the roaring waters which race and foam at
its base. In one place the cliff is so hollowed out that a
stone falling from this rickety gallery would drop on the
Nepal side of the river.

In the rains traffic is entirely stopped, as landslips
usually cut the road. Being an important trade route
between Hundes and India, the Bhotias by custom supply
men from every village annually to repair damage done
in the monsoon, otherwise it would be quite shut up.
The Indian Government, being anxious to encourage
trade for the benefit of its subjects, Bhotias and Kumaonis
alike, does not levy any duty on the salt brought into
India by these passes. Everywhere else the salt is a
dutiable product, and a source of great revenue to the
Exchequer. If the import of salt on the backs of sheep
and goats were stopped, then the flour, rice, sugar, and
tea grown in India would cease to find a market in Tibet,
and the Bhotias, who are good subjects of His Imperial
Majesty, now well-to-do and driving a good business,
would be starved and ruined. Having struck the Kali
river at Darchula, we had to tramp steadily along the
hot low Vcdley for three marches, following this, the only,
track, to overtake Mr. Drummond, who had gone on ahead.
The view from some points of the road looking upwards
is remarkable. The immense height of the great moun-
tains on the Nepal side, to which there is no access or

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 89

bridge over the river, is realized. The precipices often
overhang and impede the view ; at other places the hill-
side slopes back at an angle of 50 degrees, clothed with
fine forest of pine and silver-fir trees, towering above one
another to such a dizzy height that the top seems three
or four miles up in the air. The trees outlined against
the sky, tall groups of conifers, seem no bigger than pin-
points. Some day these forests will be explored, and
yield great stores of noble straight deals ; but for many
years to come they will grow in peace, a truly grand
stretch of primeval jungle.

We came across several Bhotia encampments and large
droves of strong, big goats accompanied by their drivers.
The goats were allowed to graze on the surrounding
slopes, while their loads, in double bags or packs made of
strong yaks' hair cloth, were piled in heaps while the men
cooked their food. They chose places where there were
caves and overhanging rocks to afford shelter from rain.
They kept great hairy Tibet dogs, exactly like the
Maremma wolf-dogs, with pointed noses and ears and
bushy tails, to guard their flocks from leopards. Where
the goats or sheep are grazing you always see two or three
of these big fellows lying on different points of rocks as if
asleep ; but they are keeping a sharp look-out for their
prowling enemies. At night the goats are driven into
the caves, around which walls are built, and on these the
faithful dogs sit watching, and giving the alarm if leopards
come round. I have myself seen two of these dogs,
which I purchased from the Bhotias — one yellowish-
white with long silky hair, the other black, like a big
sheep-dog, but much larger and heavier — tackle a leopard
which came at dusk round my camp, and succeed, after
a sharp scuffle, in scaring him off, greatly to the relief of
my ponies, which, tied near the tents, were trembling

90 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and snorting with terror. Leopards will seldom face
fires, and the natives take good care to keep a spark
burning and to shout when the dogs bark.

We overtook Mr. Drummond at Gula Dhura, in a
beautiful camp under giant sycamores on a ledge some
distance above the Kali. Here, when sitting outside
our tents after dinner, enjoying the cool, still air and a
scene quite beautiful, lighted by a lovely moon glinting
through the dark foliage overhead, there came a troop
of flying squirrels, leaping from branch to branch and
tree to tree. The performance is a peculiar one. They
are like very large squirrels, say 3 feet long, with wings
as well as legs, and a long bushy tail. They feed on berries
and acorns among the branches, and you can see them
running up the stems and to the highest branches of the
trees. Then they appear to spread their wings and shoot
themselves into space. With a kite-like motion they
cross the gap to the nearest tree, landing among its lower
branches safely, and ready to climb up again and take
another flight from the top branches as before. Not know-
ing what sort of animals these could be, we watched them
for a long time with much astonishment. The enigma
was, however, solved on one being shot and examined.
They possess a light, thin, web-like membrane like the
bat tribe, which stretches between arms and legs and
tail. When flying, they simply spread out their legs
and arms, and become kites, or parachutes, able to shoot
distances of thirty or forty yards in a slanting direction.*

* These were probably the Pteromys niagnificits, described by
Jerdon as body 14 inches and tail 20 inches long, which is found in
the Himalayas up to 9,000 feet elevation. But as there are eight
different species of flying squirrels in India, all of similar shape and
habits, it is not impossible that the species given is incorrect. The
skin was certainly dark brown with rufous belly, fur very silky and
beautiful. There are other kinds much lighter in colour, and even
white on the belly.

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 91

Next day was a long march to Budhi, a principal
village of the Bians Bhotias. It is a long and tiring march
for coolies carrying loads, especially as there is not a
drop of water for fifteen or twenty miles. They call it
Nirpani (no water), and there are some very ugly places,
where even one false step would send the cragsman down
into the depths below to be swept away in the stream, a
swirling black icy cataract which shoots with hideous
velocity down its rocky channel, and into which anything
entering will never be seen again. No ponies can traverse
this route. Ours had been sent back long ago to Naini
Tal on account of this passage. We luckily came at a
good season, when the repairs had been done, and took
water with us and started early. The most jumpy part
of the passage was where there occurred stone -falls,
resembling waterfalls, which shot down from the cliffs
above, sometimes gravel and sometimes boulders of con-
siderable size. These you could see bounding a long way
up, and you had to wait at a sheltered spot for a lull, and
then rush across the gap and take your chance. Luckily
they always kept in the same course, and the stones
seldom lit exactly on the path ; but you could hear them
hurtling through the air like shot from a howitzer, and
as they went by with a whizz you felt creepy. The
natives told us that many people get killed by being hit ;
and they always do puja to the evil spirits of the Nirpani
before venturing to traverse its dangerous ledges. We
got by all safely and camped at Budhi in an open valley.
We had passed between Namjung and Irvajung, 18,000
and 21,000 feet high, through a slit comparatively not
much above the level of the Indian plains and excessively
hot. We seemed suddenly to emerge from a hot and
subterraneous funnel into a cool and open region, where
the vegetation was almost Arctic. The dense forests had

92 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

given place to almost bare hills, with birch and Pinus
excelsa and juniper on the lower slopes. There were
meadows, and even oats in fields, and the stream was
winding ov^er flats with gravel beds and the usual wild
flowers found in Swiss valleys. The sultry heat of the
previous marches gave place to cold and clear air, with
the bracing feeling of northern climates, which strikes
one as homelike and delightful after the plains of India.

Our tents were pitched near the village of Garbyang,
the principal one in Bians, of which the pudhan, or head-
man, came at once with offerings of sweets and fruits to
our camp. Here also we met Colonel Smyth, Inspector
of Schools, who had been visiting all the village schools,
and was much pleased with the proficiency of the scholars.
Colonel Smyth was an experienced traveller and explorer,
and had made many trips across the frontier into Tibet,
and been over most of the passes, and was also a great
shikari and mountain climber. He was joining our party
for the purpose of getting as far into Tibet as possible
at this most easterly point of the British Himalayas,
which hitherto had been little explored. He had tried
several times to get beyond Taklakhar, and had always
been turned back, but was of opinion that so large a
party as ours would find much less difficulty than a single
sahib. He had fitted out an expedition to go to Lhasa,
but after many delays in trying to procure passports
through the Governor-General and the Ambassador to
China, he had been obliged by the orders of the former
to abandon the proposed journey, as the Government of
India would not give it their sanction. He had selected,
however, some very intelligent young men out of the
Bhotia schools, who were being trained at the Roorkee
engineering college under Colonel Montgomerie, chief of
the Survey of India, to make surveys with the best instru-

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 93

ments. They were to be sent in to explore this unknown
country.

We found it very cold at nights here, but good fires
were kept up in front of the tents, with a wall built of
loose stone, Tibet fashion, all round the fire, to keep off
the cold breeze. Extra clothing was also required, and
blankets at night. The following morning, on waking,
we heard the bleating of many sheep, and on looking out
of the tent door found a long string of the quaintest-
looking sheep coming down from Tibet by the Bians
Pass. They had long, straight horns, straight out on
each side of the head, similar exactly in shape to the horns
of the Ovis Poli, only a few being curled close to the side
of the head like the Ovis Ammon and Scotch horny.
These sheep were very tall on the leg, as big as a Lincoln
sheep, and had fairly fleecy wool. The quaintest sight,
however, to our eyes, was to come. Three objects
approached our tents, with little slit eyes and red cheeks
and broad grins on their fiat red faces — whether men or
women it was not easy to tell, for they had smooth faces
and their hair flattened on the temples, black greasy
pig-tails coming out from under their broad Quaker-like
hats. They were squat, thick figures, with a waddling
gait, and wore thick woollen coats, and trousers gathered
in at the ankle, and woollen boots, and round their
waists dirty kamarbands, with knives and chop-stick
cases stuck in them. Their coats were open in front and
bulged out above the waist, as if they had crammed all
loose property into the space. In fact, wooden cups for
drinking tea, neatly turned from knotted horse-chestnut,
which grows in Nepal, tobacco bags and others made of
leather, wool for spinning, and all sorts of sundries were
carried in these capacious breast-pockets. They wore
Birmingham-made goggles, and carried each a green

94 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

cotton umbrella of Gampish design, and spun woollen
yam diligently on to a large bobbin, which was kept per-
petually twisting as it hung by its newly spun thread.

Coming to our tents, they put their comical faces
inside to look at our tent gear, at which they laughed and
jabbered a new and strange lingo, which we were told
was the Hunia language — the language of the Huns, the
same, perhaps, as that spoken by the Huns who conquered
China and the Asiatic world 400 years B.C., and as 200,000
horsemen overran Europe to the gates of Rome in the
fifth century a.d., being at last defeated at the gates of
Chalons. The Hungarians claim to be descended from
the Huns. Their language and features are, however,
opposite as the poles to those of the Huns ; and, in fact,
the Huns who conquered the Goths passed on westward,
and were defeated and lost among European races. The
branch of the Huns which was driven south by other
Tartar races, no doubt, was stopped by the Himalayas,
and preferring these wilds and a nomadic life, has re-
mained in this inhospitable country ever since. In any
case, it is marked correctly in most modem atlases as
Hundes — the country of the Huns — and the people are
called Hunias. These men were particularly quaint and
amusing ; they talked a few words of Hindustani, and
spent quite a time inspecting our camp and asking ques-
tions. They told us that the snow on the passes was very
deep, and that no one could get across ; yet apparently
they had themselves got over quite safely. It was re-
ported, no doubt, that we were intending to cross over,
which, as we afterwards learnt, they were aU anxious to
prevent.

Having summoned the pudhan of Garbyang, Boodoo
by name, a most intelligent man, and his brother Jussoo,
who spoke the Hunia language well, they agreed to supply

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 95

stores, consisting of flour, rice, and sattu (parched wheat),
sufficient for a stay of one month, also to supply sixty
carriers from the Bhotia villages, each man to carry food
for himself for a month beside his load. They agreed to
come with us and act as guides and interpreters. We
also hired jhobus, or tame yaks, to carry tents and other
loads, and ponies to ride. I purchased one very nice
strong gray pony, and hired another for myself, a very
plucky little bay. We engaged also shikaris, excellent
men who were first-class mountaineers, good stalkers and
trackers, and ver^^ keen to make a good bag. It was now
July, and the rains were almost breaking on the lower
hills and plains of India. We were anxious to get across
to the other side, which has a comparatively rainless
climate, as soon as possible. The pudhan informed us
that he had been given notice by messengers that the
sahibs were on no account to attempt to cross into Tibet,
as it was contrary to the orders of the Chinese authorities.
This is, however, the usual custom.

While things were getting ready we determined to have
a try for burrhel, or wild sheep, in some vaUeys close by, in
Nepal. We gave out we were going there to shoot. It
was, however, our intention to cross over the Tinkar
Pass in Nepal, which would get us close to Taklakhar and
take the Hunias unawares.

Our light camp was pitched on sloping ground in a
considerable valley in Nepal, east of the Kali, on the south
bank of a rushing torrent which drained the extensive
slopes of the lofty peak of Api. Above the tents was a
snow slope coming down close to the camp, which was on
gravel with some scant vegetation, and slanting down to
the river some 500 feet below. In places this valley was
filled up level with snow, forming a convenient bridge to
cross from the south to the north side, which was beauti-

96 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

fully wooded with birch and other trees. These bridges
were constantly used in marching up the valley, to cross
from one side to the other. The torrent had cut a tunnel
for itself, through which its black and icy waters roared
in a fearful manner. The Bhotias showed great caution
in crossing, and generally sent the yaks on ahead. These
sagacious animals always by instinct discovered the strong
places to cross, and made steps for the rest to follow.
Sometimes only a very small arch of snow, a few feet
wide and perhaps not six inches thick, remained unmelted,
yet the whole caravan would cross in safety. The hills
on the north side of the valley were covered with forest,
and cut up into chasms by old landslips ; above were
steps and old moraine, with grassy slopes and juniper
bushes and Alpine roses. At dusk we searched the hill-
side with binoculars, and sighted some burrhel grazing,
also a big brown bear. The black bear is usually found
in Kumaon, and the brown in Kashmir ; but a few of the
latter exist in these valleys.

At earliest dawn some of the Bhotias were to start with
their dogs and hunt the upper ranges, and drive the burrhel
down to us. We left camp about 7 a.m. and crossed on
snow to our places. The shikaris who managed the hank
chose our positions, and we waited patiently, concealed
among the juniper bushes. We could hear the hounds,
which were a cross of the Tibet dog and the pariah, giving
tongue above us a long way off. Presently a musk deer
came cautiously slinking along, and received his quietus.
A herd of burrhel ran along out of range, and turned up the
hUl again. They are brown like a moufion, white on the
belly, and about the size of a Leicester sheep. As usual
among the sheep tribe in the wild state, the wool on the
back is more like hair, or what is called ' kemp ' by wool-
sorters in reference to Scotch or Welsh mountain sheep,

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 97

which have still some of it, though climate and feeding

have converted the hair more generally into wool.* There

came along presently a great brown bear, shambling at a

great pace through the juniper bushes, and looking over

his shoulder in a quaint manner to where the dogs were

yapping on the hill half a mile above us. He seemed to

scent danger, for he changed his course and sloped off

westward. We started to run to intercept him at a

convenient dell which he was making for. My shikari

Munnoo, an active young man, lean and hardy, led the

way, carrying my second rifle. The high elevation, 16,000

feet, made running almost an impossibility ; but we

stniggled on, crashing through juniper scrub, until our

breathing became too laboured to go forward, and we

both threw ourselves down and panted. The bear did not

suffer from the rarefied air, and only afforded a long shot

as he scampered away down the hill. Whether he was

hit or not was hard to tell, but he was so flurried that he

seemed to roll himself into a ball and disappeared down

the hillside like a stone, head over heels, bounding from

point to point and disappearing into a dense mass of

brushwood, far down the declivity and close to the edge

of the torrent below. Bears seem to adopt this method

of progression when they get nerv'ous from being suddenly

disturbed or shot at. I have seen one drop out of a high

tree without hesitation, and they do not seem to mind the

fall in the least.

Returning to camp, we found that the sun had been

melting the snow above the tents in a jocose manner — in

fact, rolling down huge snowballs at us, some of which

had accumulated in their descent to masses of a ton

* This wild sheep is described by Jerdon as the Ovis nahura :
smooth horns, rounded, directed upwards, backwards, and outwards
with a semicircular sweep, then the rounded points are recurv^ed for-
wards and inwards.

7

98 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

weight or more as they rolled down the snow slope, and
continued their course on the bare ground right past the
tents, threatening destruction to the frail structures.
Luckily the snowballing ceased at nightfall owing to the
frost, so that we could sleep without fear of finding our-
selves buried under an avalanche.

Next day we returned towards Garbyang, where all
was ready for crossing to Hundes. We turned, however,
up another valley to the village of Tinkar in Nepal, to
await the arrival of our party. There was another vil-
lage not far off, where, we were told, all the inhabitants
had lately died of small-pox and there was not a soul left
alive. Tinkar had escaped with no deaths and only a few
mild cases. This seemed a miraculous story, but was
accounted for when we were told by the Bhotias that the
vaccination officer sent by our Government had vaccinated
all the Tinkar folk, but the old women of the other village
had steadily refused to admit the officer or allow him to
operate. The goddess Kali could not be propitiated by
such a stupid process as inoculating with the blood of a
calf. Now, however, the intelligent Bhotias of Tinkar
had the laugh over the worshippers of malignant spirits,
and every village around was sending requests to the
vaccination officer to come over into Nepal and ad-
minister the life-saving virus. It was terrible to see the
horrible marks that this fell disease had left from time to
time on the poor people in some of the hill valleys, faces
so disfigured by pits and scars as to seem scarcely human,
not to speak of blindness and loss of noses. The stories
told of the horrors of small-pox were quite harrowing,
and there was but one opinion among all, whether
Kumaonis, Bhotias, or Hunias, that the vaccination
officer was the saviour of the hves of thousands ; and
the blessing of the poor was ever being given to

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 99

the Sirkar, or Government, for sending him among
them.

The villagers at Tinkar came out to meet us, and pre-
sented an offering of a goat and milk. These poor Nepali
villagers also supplied firewood, and were loud in their
praises of the Government and the sahibs as garib
parwari (protectors of the poor). Smyth and I started
at 4 a.m. the next morning to climb the grassy slopes
above the village where the burrhel frequented, as we
wanted mutton for our camp use. It was a hard climb,
as the elevation was over 16,000 feet, and between the
ridges there lay beds of snow which had to be crossed
one after another. As each ridge was topped great
caution was taken to scan the next ones with glasses for
the blue-gray forms of the wild sheep, scarcely distinguish-
able from the weather-worn and lichen-covered rocks
and shingly slopes. The use of two alpenstocks with
iron spikes was not to be despised. The shikaris carried
the rifles, and were most keen and excited to make a good
stalk. There was only one chance, and it was a female
that was shot. The effect of the high elevation and want
of breakfast was a frightful headache over the brows,
something like what is experienced in a very crowded
room where the air is deficient in oxygen. The rest of
our party met us at noon for breakfast, in a valley on the
track by which the coolies were toiling upwards.

Having enjoyed a good meal and delicious tea with
goat's milk, we were again starting, when Munnoo, who
had asked for my binoculars, suddenly and with eager
excitement, after the manner of these shikaris, pointed
out a herd of old ram burrhel lying some 1,500 feet above
us. Forgetting that I had already been climbing those
cliffs since 4 a.m., Munnoo and I and another shikari
crossed a slender snow bridge, and faced the ascent up a

7—2

lOO THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

hollow which would bring us to the back of a ridge close
to the burrhel, the air being on the move across from
them to us. It took over an hour to reach the particular
pointed rock we had noted. Over this Munnoo was not
long in verifying our position as just opposite to where the
herd still lay quietly. Having rested a moment to allay
the unsteady panting caused by the quick climb, I had
the satisfaction of seeing fifteen old rams lying asleep,
most of them with their heads resting on the ground, and
not seventy yards off. Recollecting that one is terribly
apt to fire high at these close distances, and having
picked the heaviest head, I slipped the point of my double
rifle, a i6-bore Jacob, over the rock ; and, being perfectly
steady and cool, he dropped to a shot in the neck. Terri-
fied at the report, they sprung to their feet, and, not know-
ing whence the danger came, stood for a second, when
another big ram fell to the second barrel. Munnoo, who
lay behind me, handed the second rifle ; and, still in
doubt, the herd started to run in all directions, some
actually towards me, and passed within twenty yards
below me. A third was hit behind the shoulder as they
galloped by, and the fourth bullet went high. So I had
succeeded in killing three rams with four barrels, and
securing a very nice lot of mutton for the men to eat, and
some good heads, the biggest with horns 15 inches long
and II inches girth.

The rams are found at this season separate from the
ewes, as in the case of the thar. The burrhel is not a
forest animal ; he lives entirely on the grassy hills above
the tree-line, and grazes on the slopes, retreating to more
precipitous ground when disturbed. He can move on
the face of the most dangerous crags quite as freely as the
wild goats.

We sloped along the upper levels towards the trail,

THE COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS loi

and found the camp pitched in a flat, with snow lying
all round and mist drifting up from the south. The
south-west monsoon was about now due, and we were
enveloped soon in dense clouds, with a warm damp
breeze blowing up from the plains of India. We were
close to the summit of the great range, and to-morrow
we were to cross the frontier.

CHAPTER X

HUNDACE OR HUNDES : THE LAND OF THE HUNS

The sixty Bhotia carriers, hardy, strong, well clad moun-
taineers, all wearing thick gray woollen clothing with good
native-made shoes or Hunia boots, grouped under rocks
round the tents, had lighted fires, and were cooking strips
of burrhel meat and boiling coppers of rice. The yaks
and ponies were grazing close by on the short grass, and
Jussoo was at the tent door discussing the chances of
our crossing on the morrow without being obstructed by
the Hunias. They had given out that the sahibs were
gone into Nepal to shoot. Soon all the men, tired with
the weight of their loads, wrapped themselves in their
thick goats' hair blankets and lay all round the tents. At
early mom we were on the move, and soon got on to snow,
the last ascent being steep but by no means difficult.
The yaks were driven on ahead along the face of the snow
slopes, an old cow leading. She smelt her way on the
safest and most solid snow, by instinct choosing the places
where the surface was sound, and the others followed in
her footsteps. By the time these heavy animals had
passed there was as fine a flight of solid steps cut in the
snow as could be made by the best ice-axe man, and no
one sank in or even got wet feet. The difficulties of
Alpine climbing as usually described by mountaineers
are thus very much simplified.

No one had crossed the Tinkar Pass this year, and the

THE LAND OF THE HUNS 103

path had to be found. But barring the great labour of
walking at an elevation of nearly 18,000 feet, there was
not much difhculty and no danger. Some of the bearers
became exhausted under their heavy loads, and some
were sick, and all complained of headaches. Goggles over
the eyes were necessary : or strips of black crape, which
we brought for the men, were worn tied over the eyes. A
few, who had not recovered from the big drink to celebrate
the start from their homes, threw down their loads and
declined to proceed ; but, acting as rearguard, I was pro-
vided with a flask of brandy carried on my saddle pony,
which brought the laggards to the scratch. The native
opinion is that there is poison in the air at these high
elevations, and they have a great dread of the mountain
sickness which generally affects people. With me it only
took the form of headache and a singing in the ears ; but
with some it seemed to cause prostration and vomiting
and bleeding from ears and nose.

Following the track in cloud and damp mist and snow,
by ten o'clock we found ourselves all safe at the summit,
and for a moment the cloud cleared away. Looking back,
a wonderful view of dark valleys opened under our feet,
with distant ranges melting away in the blue, hazy distance,
and valleys traced out on the distant map, giant peaks
of white quartz rock or snow standing in blocks, over the
top of which we could see out into the far, far, hazy, dim
distance where lay the sultry plains of Hindustan. Above
these drifted up perpetually from the south a canopy of
white, fleecy clouds, which struck the highest summits of
the Himalayas and then tumbled over to the other side.
But, strange to say, the endless phalanxes of soft white
vapour, in falling over the rim, as it were, melted away
suddenly into invisibility, and to the north was a clear
blue sky without^a cloud, ~and a fierce blaze of vertical

I04 THE FORESTS Of^ UPPER INDIA

sunshine. No words can describe the transformation
scene which the view northward presented.

The contrast was surprising and starthng. Sloping
away gradually northward from the summits there were
gently rounded hills, smoothed and levelled off almost
like plains. To the south the best roads were but dan-
gerous tracks, where the most sure-footed might slip or
fall down into depths unseen. To the north there was an
endless stretch of smooth surface, where a coach and four
might be driven without fear of an upset. To the south
was a climate where the rainfall for half the year was 200
to 300 inches, and the snow line was about 16,000 feet
above the sea. To the north was an almost rainless
climate, with a snow line at an elevation of 19,000 to
20,000 feet. Towards India was dense forest, and vegeta-
tion covering every spot and clinging to every hillside
where a bush or a blade of grass could grow. To the north
there was not a tree in a thousand miles, or perhaps ten
thousand, not a bush to be seen, scarce a blade of grass —
nothing but stones, gravel, shingle, or clay. To the south
you could not see the soil for its dense parasitic clothing
of vegetation, green and blue, stretching to eternity under
a deep and sombre canopy. To the north not a scrap of
green in the whole landscape — nothing but brilliant crude
red and yellow and purple and white, dazzlingly marbled
out under a blazing sun. Lastly, to the south lay a region
of rivers and torrents, noisy streams and cascades, per-
petually roaring and cutting up the soil into an endless
network of deep ravines and watercourses, while to the
north there lay vast and arid plains where (except from
scantily melting snow) no water was to be found ; the
beds of streams could be seen but rarely and they were
often dry, and what rivers were found flowed gently and
with feeble current.

THE LAND OF THE HUNS 105

To linger on this lofty ridge of the world, which we had
reached by such weeks of toilsome climbing, and wonder
at the greatness and appalling grandeur of the scene, was
an absolute necessity. A moment to be never forgotten,
and a position attained by a very few mortals. Turning
at last to follow the party now cheerfully trudging on the
downward slope, it was a delight to emerge into the bright
sunshine and warmth, and soon to descend from glacier
and dazzling snow on to solid ground and firm going,
where one could mount one's pony and start galloping
at once. Soon catching up the party, we proceeded gaily.
The order was given for no straggling. All to keep close
together, driving the yaks in front. Not a sign was to be
seen of the sixty Hunia horse-soldiers we were told had
been sent to stop us. We had evidently hoodwinked
the authorities on the frontier. We saw only the tracks
of a couple of horsemen who had recently been patrolling
the pass. The distant view was enchanting : a great
extent of gaily coloured rolling downs, with distant ranges
of hills standing in rows one after the other, with deep
blue shadows on their sides ; and north-east was a glorious
peaked snow mountain, with four subsidiary peaks show-
ing against the sky. This was the never explored Gurla
Mandhata, 25,500 feet high, where the snow line only com-
mences at about 19,000 feet elevation.

In front of us to the north-west we could see something
like houses on top of a pointed hill, and the walls of a fort.
This was Taklakhar, the frontier military station and
fort, and seat of a large lamaserai. Coming to lower
lands where yak droppings lay about well baked in the
sun, we soon collected enough to light a fire and boil the
kettle and make tea, and sat down to an excellent break-
fast. Our khansamah and cook, who, being plainsmen, had
to be taken care of, had ridden most of the way on yaks,

lo6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and were fit for their important duties. The Bhotias all
carried bags of sattu, or parched corn, which they could
eat in handfuls quickly without having to cook. It was
partially roasted and browned, and was not at all unpalat-
able, and more digestible than semi-boiled rice. Many
had suffered agonies the previous evening from eating
rice, which, though boiled for hours, could not be properly
cooked owing to the rarefaction of the air, water boiling
at a temperature of i8o° instead of 212° Fahr. The rice
naturally swelled in the stomach after being eaten, and
the result was howling and kicking all through the night.
Proceeding on our march, and gradually descending, we
got nearer to Taklakhar. Presently we saw from a dis-
tance a troop of horsemen coming at a hand-gallop
straight for our line of march, as if they came from the
Bians Pass, where, as we heard later, they had been sent
by the Zung-pun, and had been waiting to stop our
passage, as they had done the year before, when Smyth
had tried to get across. He had had only a few carriers,
and his loads were carried on jhobus. The Hunias had
simply unloaded the jhobus and turned them loose.
They had succeeded in stopping him, as he could not
leave his loads ; and he had to return the way he came,
being quite helpless. Such tactics were on this occasion
of no avail ; and we felt, with our sixty faithful Bhotias
marching in a solid body, with the yaks in the middle,
and headed by four sahibs and six shikaris, all carrying
rifles, guns, and revolvers, loaded with near a hundred
cartridges, that we rather had the advantage of these
gentlemen.

Their advance was intended, doubtless, to be terrifying
and imposing, as they swept on in an extended line, shout-
ing and brandishing their weapons, fully sixty specimens
of the Hunia cavalry wheeling in picturesque confusion

THE LAND OF THE HUNS 107

right in front of our line of march. If the exhibition was
a brave one, it certainly had the wrong effect on us ; for
so funny and quaint a crowd of little hump-backed,
broad-cheeked, greasy bundles of dirty clothes, calling
themselves sowars, and mounted on shaggy little ewe-
necked, ragged-hipped ponies, with long manes and tails
streaming in the wind, the trappings held together by
bits of string, never was seen before. We simply stood
still and roared with laughter. Their open countenances,
without a particle of beard, and slit eyes and squat noses,
and pigtails flying behind, and hair plastered down each
side, like a woman of the early Victorian period, were too
irresistibly provocative of laughter. They tried hard to
look ferocious, but soon catching the infection from us,
they began to grin all over, and ended by laughing heartily
and enjoying the fun, and putting out their long red
tongues in rows, which started us laughing more furiously.
This is the recognised form of friendly salute among the
Hunias. It takes the place of hand-shaking, and I
believe one is expected to do likewise, and touch tongues,
a part of the ceremony we felt inclined to omit.

For a description of the Huns of the old Scythian
family it is only necessary to refer to Gibbon. He shows
that they were little and deformed men with flat noses and
no beards, big heads, ' broad shoulders, and a short,
square body of nervous strength, though of a dispropor-
tioned form,'* that they marched incredible distances
mounted on small horses, and under Attila overran the
whole of Europe. Learned writers have endeavoured to
locate the origin of this people. Strange to say, they seem
to have placed it everywhere but in the place which is
called at this day Hundace, or Hundes, the country of the
Huns. Here we had an actual exhibition in modern real

* Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' chap, xxxiv.

io8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

life of the advance of the once dreaded army of the Huns
described by Gibbon.

These quaint barbarians in round felt hats, armed with
swords like old Roman gladii, bows and spears — a few
of them carrying slung across their backs long matchlocks
with a sort of easel attached to rest the point on when
firing — were (but for the matchlock) probably exact
counterparts of Attila's heroes. They are a very lazy
race, and never go two yards on foot. Their walk is a
slouching, feeble one when off their ponies, but when
mounted they are in their glory. They ride on high
wooden saddles, with boards for flaps. Over all is placed
a sort of padded mattress which covers half the pony.
They scuttle along over the stones at a tremendous
pace, the gentleman on top jumping and winking and
nodding at every step of his prancing charger, which is
held by a powerful bit. There are brass mountings and
tassels of red hair swinging from the bridle, and cruppers
and breast-bands galore. His riding-boots are of red
cloth of a graceless shape. And in the matter of hats he
is most tasteful. Some are broad like a Swiss woman's,
some tall like the Welsh, some are wideawakes and soft
felt caps, some Glengarries, like soup-plates with a
pompon in bright yellow or scarlet in the middle. This
on the top of a greasy round red face and an enormous
pigtail behind makes him too funny an object. His
knees are up to his chin, in the Tod Sloan fashion. He
brandishes a short dog whip, and makes his pony pace
with an extraordinary pig-like run, two legs on one side
moving together, then the other two.

These brave troopers did not, however, succeed in
making us stop our march, as when they got in front of
us we laughed the harder at their uncouth gestures, and
walked round them, telling them through our inter-

THE LAND OF THE HUNS 109

preters that we had no time to talk and must get to
the end of our march. They would draw off for a bit
and then repeat the intimidating performance, which
was quite as good as a play and very entertaining.

Our great endeavour was to get to the bridge which
spanned the Koriali river, and across it, so that they
should not stop us before coming to camp under the
heights of Taklakhar, which, after going a few miles
further, we approached. As we pressed on to descend
some shingle banks down to the river, we were suddenly
intercepted by about 200 foot-soldiers or men from the
fort, who threw themselves in front of us in a compact
body, shouting with shrill, strange voices and making
signs to us as if frantic. Some lay on the ground before
us, imploring us to stop, and drawing their hands rapidly
across their necks ; whether this was intended as a
threat or some freemason's sign we could not tell, but
Jussoo and Boodoo begged us not to use our arms, and
gesticulated and argued with a confused babel of tongues.
Some stones began to fly, and we made a rush for the
bridge ; but before we could reach it these yelling
maniacs had hurled down the timbers that formed the
bridge, and we could do nothing. Jussoo interpreted
that they had strict orders from Lhasa that no one was
to go by, and that if we forced our way their heads would
be cut off, which the sawing motion at the neck was
intended to express. Mr. Drummond and Colonel
Smyth assembled our whole party on a mound, where
we held forth by our interpreters that we were friendly
travellers and did not desire to do them any harm ; at
the same time that, if any violence was attempted, we
were well armed, and prepared to defend ourselves and
property. That in pulling down the bridge and pre-
venting us from reaching our camping-ground they had

no THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

committed an unfriendly act, to atone for which they
would be required to bring us fuel and supplies, for
which we would pay.

The excitement having subsided, we soon pitched tents
on the flat place above the river, which ran in a deep
channel between beds of rock.

The fort and town of Taklakhar was perched on a high
ridge or summit opposite, overhanging the Koriali river.
There was a zigzag path ascending from the base some
300 feet up the face of the cliff, protected by curtain walls ;
and above were some very high buildings with many
windows crowning the height, resembling somewhat an
Italian town and convent. There were many caves
to be seen in the face of the rock, which were said
to be caves of hermits or very holy lamas. Jussoo,
having gone to the town, soon returned with men bring-
ing flour and rice and firing, and peace seemed quite
restored.

Next day we had a visit from the Zung-pun, the com-
mandant of the fort,* and soldiers under the Lhasa
Government. Also the ' Bara Lama,' or head of the
Lamaserai, a gentleman who seemed of much importance.
Mr. Drummond received them sitting inside the tent in a
chair, the symbol of the Indian Sirkar, while we sat round
him, and the Hunia gentlemen sat on the ground and our
two Bhotias at the tent door. They professed their
friendliness to the Indian Raj and the British sahibs, but
declared their inability to let us enter their country,
owing to strict orders from headquarters. They repeated
the story of the indiarubber boat and the profanation of
the sacred lake, and the consequent decapitation of the
previous Zung-pun. We declared that we did not desire
to offend their religious prejudices, and should on no
* Sometimes called Nirbah, oftener Zung-pun.

THE LAND OF THE HUNS in

account go near the lake or the sacred mountain of Kailas ;
that we only desired to travel peaceably in their country
and enjoy the chase of wild animals, of which we heard
there were plenty ; and that, as we only carried provi-
sions for thirty days, we were bound to come back by the
same route in that time.

The Zung-pun had one long earring in his left ear,
3 inches long, formed out of a blue-green turquoise stone,
and wore a peculiarly shaped bonnet of thick felt. The
lama was like a monk, in a long coat of deep red cloth,
with a cowl over the head, a rope round his waist, and
beads like any rosary, with crosses. He carried a brass
praying machine, which he kept winding at times from
left to right, for fear at any time an interval without
prayer might endanger his soul's welfare, while he was
engaged in worldly affairs or in conversing with infidels.
The Zung-pun did most of the talking, but deferred
always to the spiritual authority for his consent or ap-
proval. He informed us that we might stay where our
camp stood, and that he would send out shikaris into the
jungle, who would kill game for us and bring us the skins
and horns. We thanked him for his kind offer, but said
we intended to do our own shikar. The lama, though
not professing Christian virtues, seemed not to object to
Christian beverages ; for when presently a servant placed
glasses and a bottle of J. J. Jameson's whisky on the table,
his eyes, which had remained expressionless, seemed to
recognise the brand and twinkled affectionately. He
did not refuse to partake of a drop, and even produced
his own drinking vessel, a wooden bowl, from inside his
capacious breast pocket, as if he had anticipated the
entertainment. The Nirbah, having also partaken,
became quite profuse in his offers of supplies and all
that we might require, and told us that he would give

112 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

our requests his most careful consideration and let us
know his decision later on.

After they had departed, mounted on ponies capari-
soned in a gaudy manner with coloured saddle-cloths and
tassels of yak's hair — for they never walk a yard unneces-
sarily— there came half the population of Taklakhar in
relays to our tent doors, to inspect our kit and satisfy
their curiosity. The monastic element seemed to pre-
ponderate ; and lamas of all grades and equal dirtiness
came in troops, all using praying machines, some of
which we purchased. They are round brass boxes with a
handle, and a weight which swings the box round on the
handle. Inside, the prayers are written on hundreds of
strips of paper. The prayers, to be effective, must on no
account be twisted the wrong way. There came also
women, who were so like the men as to be undistinguish-
able ; but many had black smudges over their cheeks,
so as not to attract admiration too generally. They
were quite ugly enough without trying to disfigure them-
selves further. Nature had made them hideous, with
broad red cheeks and squat noses. The children were
jolly, laughing, little bundles of rags, like their parents.
Whether they kill their female children or not, it is a
fact that women are in a great minority among these
Huns, a circumstance also noted by Gibbon.

Next day the Zung-pun agreed to let us go for one
month's trip north-east, provided we promised not to go
near Manasarowar ; but, to protect himself, he said we
must put up the bridge ourselves and pretend to have a
great fight, so that he should be able to report his being
overpowered by numbers. The whisky was again drawn
upon, and we presented the lama with a piece of scarlet
broadcloth sufficient for a full coat, and the Nirbah with
some gunpowder. They were much pleased, and became

THE LAND OF THE HUNS 113

quite friendly and jocose, laughing freely and putting
out their tongues. They were curious to know about
railways and telegraphs, and asked after the Queen of
England. We inquired why they were so anxious to
prevent British subjects from visiting their country.
They replied that it was the order of their Government
in Lhasa, and that the jungle was infested by bad people
called Khampa log, who robbed and murdered any travellers
they could meet. The distance to Lhasa was about
thirty marches for men on horseback, but double that
for jhobus, and the roads very bad. It could not be less
than 600 miles. Before parting, the Zung-pun presented
us with little gifts. I still possess a brass tassel with
horsehair, used for hanging to a horse's bridle.

The garrison of the fort was said to be about 300 men, of
whom 100 were horse-soldiers, so called, and the authorit}'
of the Zung-pun extended over a considerable area.
They spent the summer in tents, herding their sheep,
goats, and jhobus all over the vast plains, moving higher
as the sun got stronger and the grass grew. In the winter
it became deadly cold, and the shepherds moved down
from the higher plateaux into valleys further north and
east, and into houses. It did not snow much, but the
winds were so cold and frost so intense that no one could
live out in the jungle in the cold season. The wool of
the white goat was carried on jhobus to Kashmir for
making shawls, and the pashm from goats and sheep
was also traded for flour and rice, which would
not grow in Hundes. Such information was freely
given us. Our interpreters did not recommend our
entering the town or fort of Taklakhar, which, from the
size of the buildings on top of the hill, must be a consider-
able place. They could not answer for our being civilly
received ; indeed they seemed to have a dislike of

8

114 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

foreigners entering their houses or temples, and the lamas
had a sulky manner. So we refrained from going near
their temples or conventual buildings, and remained very
good friends. Their religion is perhaps the oldest and
most spiritual in existence ; their ten commandments
as much worthy of respect as the Jewish Decalogue ;
their doctrines of monotheism and incarnation and the
efficacy of repeated prayer corresponding with Chris-
tianity; their priestly and monastic institutions being
practically identical. Yet, compared with its great rivals,
Christianity and Islamism, Buddhism takes precedence
as to the date of its origin and the extent of the influence
and power of its dogma. Here we have a country
which has remained unique as the only one on the now
well ransacked globe where British or European explorers
have not poked their noses ; until recently untrodden by
the feet of geographers, geologists, ethnologists, or anthro-
pologists, and all the other ' gists ' who want to know
everything. Yet it is a country which produced the
greatest conquerors, probably the oldest civilization and
religion which still exist, and the most unchanged and
unchangeable people ; a country also most interesting
in its natural conformation, as the land of the highest
mountains and the loftiest tablelands in the whole
world.

CHAPTER XI

GURLA MANDHATA AND THE SOURCES OF THE
BRAHMAPUTRA

The rays of a bright morning sun had scarcely risen over
the tops of the hills which flanked the valley of the
Koriali* river, when the sound of sharp firing echoed
from the rocks opposite, and round the face of the crag
on which the fortress of Taklakhar stood. Some of the
Bhotias had gone up stream before daylight and crossed
at a ford, and were now busy hauling with ropes to replace
the beams which formed the bridge. The inhabitants
rushed out from the town, but kept a very respectful
distance. The blue rock pigeons, which roosted on ledges
of rock above the water, flew out in flocks and were
knocked over, so that our powder was not quite wasted ;
while the Hunias seemed the more convinced how useless
it would be to resist our advance, and might depose with
a good conscience that the sahibs were too weU armed,
and had outwitted them and beaten them in the fight.
Anyhow the bridge was restored, consisting of three or
four beams laid from ledge of rock to ledge, in a narrow
place where the stream had cut a deep channel, and tied
together with ropes to prevent them from separating.

* Written in some maps ' Karnali.' After piercing the snowy
range, it comes out through Nepal as the Gogra to join the Ganges at
Chapra.

8—2

Il6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

On this rickety structure our party filed across, jhobus,
ponies, carriers, and all in safety ; while the Hunias
looked on, gesticulating and shouting, but offering no
resistance.

We had now a free hand to explore the unknown
country before us, where Colonel Smyth had never been
able to go, and where Mr. Drummond on his previous
trip had not reached. We determined to strike in a
north-east direction. Jussoo informed us that there was
a pass over the great range which we could see in that
direction, across the eastern shoulder of Gurla Mandhata,
which would bring us out on to the countries east of
Manasarowar, where were extensive jungles, frequented
by few natives and famous as the haunt of the rarest of
all animals, the bos grunniens — ' ban chowr,' or wild yak.
Colonel Smyth on his previous expeditions, further west
from our present ground, had shot several old bulls and
sent the skins to England, where they still are to be seen
in the British Museum and at Manchester and in other
museums ; but he had always been told that further
east across the second range, north-eastward, was the home
of the wild yak, where herds of considerable numbers
were said by the natives to exist, but the country was
jungle, and wild and dangerous to enter. The rivers did
not run into the sacred Ganga, but belonged to the bad
country, so said the dwellers on the Indian frontier, and
they dreaded to go eastward ; but Jussoo and his sixty
Bhotias had agreed to come as far as we could get while
our supplies held out. We had flour and rice for thirty
days, and expected to supply our larder with meat
enough.

Our first march brought us over rolling hills cut up by
wide valleys. We followed one which trended in the
right direction, and our guides informed us that a road

GURLA MANDHATA 117

could be found over a very high pass called Dak Eo,
between great walls of rock. The name in local language
meant the ' Gate of Death.' If we could pass by this
ghat to the real plains of Tibet, we should save about ten
marches by not going round to the west of Gurla Man-
dhata by the usual trade route and past the Manasarowar
lake, which we wished to avoid. The weather was ex-
tremely fine. Bright sun nearly overhead, deep blue
sky, fleeced by a few white clouds ; and for some time
snow had not fallen on the heights. We pushed on rapidly,
and made about eighteen miles, coming to camp in an
open valley with a winding stream over sand and gravel,
edged by short grass where our animals might graze. We
had collected yak droppings and some roots of a small
prickly bush like a broom, and soon had fires burning.
There were overhanging rocks where the men had shelter
and made themselves comfortable. We were escorted
by two Hunias, soldiers so called, on ponies, who made
their own camp not far off. They were jolly, harmless
fellows, who gave us no trouble, and squatted on the
ground and played some game like dominoes, and munched
sattu (parched grain), which they carried in greasy-looking
bags. They were sent by the Zung-pun to watch our
movements, and report our whereabouts if we went where
we were likely to bring trouble.

This march was an agreeable one. The sharp breeze
kept us cool enough, though the sun's rays were roasting.
We boiled the thermometer, and found our camp to be
about 16,000 feet. The hills were quite bare, rock and
stones ; but in the valleys you could see blades of grass
growing in clusters among the shingle, of a kind called
' bhuk ' grass by the Bhotias {bhuk meaning hungry),
because all animals get hungry when they see it, and stop
to take a bite. Our ponies when we rode them used to

Ii8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

rush for every clump and take a mouthful. It was a
sort of ' sheep fescue ' grass like the Festuca ovina of
Europe.

Here for the first time we saw the kiang, or wild horse.
Several herds came to look at us as we marched, and
galloped around, neighing and kicking up, but kept a
respectful distance. They have big ugly heads, and tails
and ears like mules, and a black stripe dov/n the back ;
colour light bay with white noses. They have fine free
action in the trot and gallop, and are fourteen to fifteen
hands high, strong in the leg, and heavy in the body.
We also were frequently saluted by marmots,* which
screeched at us from their earths, standing on their
tails, but nearly always scuttling into their holes before
one could get a shot. They are not bad to eat, and have
nice yellow skins.

Next day we marched twelve miles to the entrance of the
pass. Here the country became wilder, snow-clad hills
shining in their spotless whiteness against the sky, and
we got glimpses of the five peaks of Gurla Mandhata
towering to our left.

We ascended gradually and camped by a stream, in a
valley below the snow. Elevation by the thermometer
over 18,000 feet. The animals had but scant pasturage,
and the carriers were much exhausted. They cooked
themselves, however, a good meal in preparation for the
next day, which was to be a long march over the pass.
The night was fine but cold (about 25° Fahrenheit), and
we struck camp at 5 a.m., soon getting on to snow, which

* Described as Ardomys hemachalamus by Jerdon. It is larger
than the marmot of the Alps, and fully double the size of the American
prairie marmot. I have seen the three species in their native haunts,
and, except in the matter of size, they are very much alike. Their
burrows are like badger- earths, and they collect grass and make hay
and store it underground for the winter.

GURLA MANDHATA II9

was luckily hard, and the ascent became more precipitous.
The carriers struggled on manfully under their heavy
loads, but walking even without anything to carry was
at this high elevation most distressing. Many sat down
on the snow and declared their last day was come ; but
the Bhotias are fine, plucky mountaineers and fought it
out well ; a nip of brandy set the weak ones all right,
and they knew that delay would be fatal. The sky was
clouded over, but the day held up weU. Sunshine would
have been worse, as it would have softened the snow.
The danger is of getting into deep and soft snow, and
remaining there. If we had been in Switzerland, crossing
steep snow slopes and crevasses covered with snow, with
all the paraphernalia of ice-axes and ropes, we should have
had a long story to tell ; but the instinct of the yaks,
which went on steadily up and up, picking their way
round the ledges of glaciers and under rock crags, seemed
never at fault. Their feet are formed to open wide and
not sink in soft snow ; and when a dozen of them have
gone safely ahead, the men and, last of aU, ponies followed
on the well-pressed snow tracks. We kept on mounting
steadily, but it was not till 2 p.m. that we reached the
highest point, a ghat or passage between high walls of
black basaltic rock, a veritable gate of death. Here we
halted till stragglers came up, and boiled some tea on a
lamp, and also the thermometer, which gave close on
20,000 feet. It was an exciting moment to have gained
this great elevation. The scene was most weird, and
the view of peaks and glaciers when the cloud occasion-
ally lifted was stupendous and bewildering. Goggles, of
course, had to be worn, but some of the carriers who had
neglected to tie on their crape bandages were howling
with pain and half blind. Some, too, were very sick, but
a short halt and the commencing to descend put them in

I20 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

spirits again. One or two plainsmen there were com-
pletely hors de combat, shivering and chattering with cold.
They had to take a turn on yaks or ponies.

There was just above us a rocky peak from which a
better view could be got, so Hodgson and I started to
climb it. There were great rocks lying on one another,
perfectly clean and freshly fractured, without lichen or
stain of any sort, some balanced so that they moved when
trod upon, though many tons in weight. How did they
get broken, and what force of Nature placed them there
as if neatly deposited the day before, sharp from the
quarry ? How many thousand years had those frag-
ments of rock been there braving the storms and frosts ?
There was no higher place for them to fall from ; they
were themselves the top summit of a small rocky needle.
Looking suddenly through a rift in the clouds somewhere
we had not come from, we saw a lake, black as pitch,
its dismal surface rippled gently by a curling breeze, and
in it were floating islands and glistening icebergs. Be-
yond was a wall of black, clear ice, going sheer down into
the lake, and going up, up to the clouds. Could anything
living exist under the shadow of that vast cliff ? The
rocks trembled under our feet, and terror seized us
involuntarily that a great catastrophe was near. Sud-
denly the ice wall seemed to be sinking like the curtain
of a theatre. There came a sough of cold, clammy wind
in our faces. There was a cracking and a roar, and
the sound of billows raging. The lake seemed to rise
and surge up to where we stood, and the iceberg to sink
into the watery depths below. We were surprised to
find the rocks still balanced true under our feet, and that
we were standing safely, though scarcely daring to ad-
vance or go back. We even forgot which side we had
mounted from, while all was again lost in dense cloud.

GURLA MANDHATA 121

which swept past us like a London fog. Presently we
heard the shouts of men calling to us from far below, so
we gladly faced towards the sound and hurried with-
out speaking from rock to rock, springing downwards
as if the devil were behind. The great stones played
different notes under our feet as they clinked and rocked.
At last we regained the beaten snow track, and rushed
wildly forward till we overtook the rest of our party, who
were wondering where we could have got to. They were
glad to see us, but not as glad as we were to have got
safely off that pinnacle. We looked at one another, and
thought more than we wished to say.

The snow line in Tibet is so much higher than any-
where else, and the climate so dry, that I think an ascent
of such a peak as Gurla Mandhata, 25,600 feet, would be
more likely to be successful, if any person cared enough to
try, than the ascent of Chimborazo, or any of the Hima-
layan giants.* I confess I should not want to go up, but
at 20,000 feet I did not find breathing too difficult.
One's pulse certainly goes very much faster, owing to the
oxygen being thin, for blood must be oxidized. In fact,
during the three months I was in the heights my pulse
was steadily over 100, night and day. We got used to
the rarefied air, and did not have what they call moun-
tain sickness in America, which is like a high fever. At
least, we suffered less from it each ascent we made, and on
this occasion the headache and pressure over the temples
passed off as we descended. Certainly this camp was a

* The ascent of the high mountain, Mustagh Ata, in Northern
Tibet, was attempted several times by Dr. Sven Hedin ; but though he
was accompanied by most excellent mountaineers of Kirghiz race,
who did their very utmost to scale this lofty snow pyramid, riding all
the way on strong fresh yaks so as to escape the exhaustion of
climbing in such a rarefied atmosphere, they found it impossible to
get higher than about 22,000 feet.

122 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

very uncomfortable one, and between wet, cold feet from
melted snow, and want of fire, and little to eat, and that
half-cooked, we did not sleep much. A good sheepskin
coat with the wool inside kept one pretty warm, and long
boots worn over three pairs of woollen stockings had kept
me dry while crossing the snow ; but when we came to
camp on the first bare ground below the snow line where
a few wild yak droppings were found, it became very
chilly. The tents were pitched on wet ground, and fires
would not bum well. Some soup and lukewarm tea
helped to restore us, and we tried to get warm with the
aid of thick blankets. The march had been a long and
trying one — sixteen hours over snow on very little food —
and all were thoroughly worn out and miserable, and too
weary to sleep.

Daylight saw us on the move again. We were still
very high up — about 19,000 feet by the thermometer,
boiled over a lamp. The animals had nothing to eat.
The yaks grunted after their peculiar manner, entirely
different from the lowing of an ox or cow. They are a
distinct species, some people say, and not related to the
Indian cattle, which are smooth-skinned and white, and
have a hump on the withers. The yak is unlike in every
particular, being covered with long black hair, and having
a fringe and bushy tail reaching to the ground ; but they
will breed together, and the cross is much used for carry-
ing loads and called a jhohu. He takes most after the
yak, and can scarcely be distinguished from one, and
will breed again.* Here we were arrived at one of the
comers of the world where a wild ox exists, and appar-

* As I understand him, Sir R. Strachey states, in his recently
published account of the Manasarowar lake country, that jhobu cows
will breed with a yak bull, but not with a jhobu bull, and that the
jhobu is the cross of yak cows and a Brahmini bull.

GURLA MANDHATA 123

ently a very distinct and rare one, remarkable for his
size and imposing appearance and his beautiful black
silky coat, with long hair hanging^down to his feet and
an under-coat of pashm, or close soft wool, without which
no animal could endure the winter cold. All the animals
of this plateau possess an under-coat of pashm — sheep,
goats, and even dogs.

We had now come out on the watershed of the Brahma-
putra, having crossed the range which lies to the north
of the Himalayas, Descending rapidly to the northward,
we found wide valleys and grassy flats opening out, and
all the streams trending towards the east. Jussoo in-
formed us that they flowed into a great river which ran
towards Lhasa, and that now we were in a vast and un-
frequented jungle or wfld country, the home of the
ban chowr, or wild yak. We pushed on, to reach before
dark some grassy plains, where scanty vegetation and
bushes of broom were scattered over the gravelly soil,
and a clear stream wound its way over pebbly shallows.
Here we pitched our camp, and fires were lighted and
the animals turned out to graze. The ground was strewed
with the droppings of enormous bulls, and their great
tracks, 10 inches across, could be seen everywhere.
Colonel Smyth, who had shot the wild yak before in
mountains further west, advised us not to approach old
solitary bulls incautiously, as they would certainly charge,
and, above all things, to aim low in the chest, or behind
the shoulder, where the heart lay. The shikaris were
ordered to keep a sharp look-out on hills around, and
soon reported that a black object was visible. The
binoculars revealed a fine bull grazing in a side valley.
Soon Hodgson and I were off with two loaded rifle? each.
The excitement when we made our stalk, each along the
back of a separate ridge, was succeeded by the wildest

124 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

despair. The bull got the wind from my side, and started
to trot up the side of Hodgson's ridge, straight, as I could
see, for where he was walking, quite in ignorance that he
was so near, as each was concealed from the other by
some big rocks. I beckoned Hodgson to look out, and
immediately they came face to face at about forty yards.
Alas ! he followed recent advice too well, for his bullet
struck too low, going through the long black fringe of hair
right out under the chest. The great beast, astonished
at the unexpected meeting and the report of the rifle,
rushed headlong down the slope, disappearing behind
the rocks, and got clean away, untouched, into the next
valley, where we never saw him again.

When disturbed the yaks will run for miles, generally
retreating upwards to high ridges above the snow line,
which are unfrequented and almost inaccessible. They
prefer during the heat of the day to be on the snow, and
come down to graze at night. During the next week
Hodgson and I continued to hunt all the valleys for miles
for yak, while Colonel Smyth went off north-east and
Mr. Drummond eastward after antelope and Ovis Ammon.
We came each day on herds of wUd yak grazing in the
early mornings in secluded valley's, as many as 150
females and calves together. We would sight the black
objects dotted over the slopes, some grazing, some Ipng
down ; but their position was so cleverly chosen that it
proved impossible to approach them. We made detours
of miles and miles, mounted on our ponies when the ground
was good enough ; and when at last we tried to stalk
them, either an old sentinel cow, placed to watch the top
of the valley, would be before us and give notice to the
rest of the herd, or the wind would shift and blow from
us to them, or the ground would prove too level for
possible concealment, and the herd would simply move off

GURLA MANDHATA 125

over a high ridge and disappear from view among clouds
and snow-fields. The weather at times was less agreeable,
snow and sleet falling ; the nights were cold, and the
distances we had to travel, often tramping in snow, made
us so weary that we were almost worn out, and despaired
of securing a specimen and replenishing our exhausted
larder. There were no inhabitants of these desolate
valleys, where grass was scarce, and that only in hollow
places.

There was ridge succeeding ridge, and sloping valleys
intervening, all so like one another that it was hard to
distinguish one's locality. The compass had often to be
consulted if the great summit of Gurla Mandhata was
lost to view, and our shikaris were often in doubt as to
our direction, though first-class mountaineers and good
trackers. On one occasion we had sighted the big herd
in the top of a wide valley, and the shikaris determined
to try and drive them to the guns ; so we made a grand
detour, leaving three men below, and after going round
by another valley — a distance which took several hours
to compass — we arrived at what seemed to be the only
pass by which the herd could leave the valley, and placed
ourselves behind rocks. Presently, by arrangement pre-
viously made, the three men showed themselves in the
valley below, and the herd, becoming alarmed, ran to-
gether, and began to face towards us. The wind was
blowing, as it usually does by day, up the valley from them
to us, and our chances of a good beef-steak looked rosier.
Alas for the uncertainty of affairs ! The wits of these
heavy, big, stupid-looking, lumbering beasts proved
sharper than ours ; for they sent on an old cow up the
ridge, and she by some instinct scented danger, and re-
treated, with her great black bush of a tail in the air, down
again, and away went the whole herd full gallop straight

126 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

up what seemed to be an impossible slope, with a snow
cornice at the top overhanging and curling over, which
looked like an absolute stopper to man or beast. Not so,
however, to the yaks ; for they made a hole in the snow,
and we had the mortification of seeing the whole herd
disappear through it against the sky-line. We fired a
few rifle bullets after them out of sheer desperation, but
the distance was too great for any result ; in fact, our
sporting rifles were not built for long range purposes.

On one occasion we crossed another very lofty divide,
and found ourselves suddenly out on the northern slopes
of another watershed, none other than that of the mighty
Indus. Far beneath us, some miles away, lay the most
brilliantly beautiful blue sea, the celebrated Manasarowar
lake, as it proved, which we had promised not to approach.
The foreground was flat, rolling hills and ridges sloping
gradually towards the lake, all bare and tinted in most
crude colours — reds and pinks and orange — while hundreds
of miles to the north and west in the violet distance there
stretched range after range of low, jagged hills, all alike,
and succeeding one another in endless succession. Con-
spicuous, and towering above them all, was the snow-
capped summit of the sacred Kailas. We sat down for
awhile, and munched our biscuits and enjoyed the wonder-
ful and extensive panorama, and sketched it in water
colours as a record of our tramp. We could see the flocks
and black tents of shepherds scattered over the plains
towards the lake, and the air was so clear and rare that
objects seemed much nearer than they were. The sun
shone bright, and silence reigned over the vast prospect,
save for the familiar songs high up overhead of innumer-
able skylarks, reminding one of scenes far away. The
ground, indeed, seemed to be the breeding-place of all the
larks in India. Their nests were so numerous that one

GURLA MANDHATA 127

ran the chance of treading on them frequently. Indeed,
all the birds and animals except the yaks were quite tame
in this strange country. The mother larks would sit
within a yard of your feet, and almost let you put your
hand on them, and the white hares, which abounded in
some places, would sit up and stare at you not five yards
off.

Next day we marched a long way eastward along the
northern slopes of the Gurla range, following the valley
of the Brahmaputra. Here, in the side valleys, we saw
tracks of old bulls, and separated to explore fresh country,
camping on the ground, with a native yak's hair chaddar
stretched over for a tent. I was at last successful in
following two old bulls which my men had seen standing
on a snow-field late in the evening. At daylight I sent
men into all the side valleys to bring word if they were
to be seen, and about 8 a.m. they came to say that the old
bulls were quietly grazing in a small valley with a lake,
not far off. The wind was still blowing down the valley,
but would soon change upward ; so we hurried on, con-
cealing ourselves behind a line of moraine which swept
up the side of the valley. There were two splendid black
fellows quietly grazing by the lake. My shikari followed
with a second rifle and double gun, also loaded with ball,
and we made good our stalk up to within 150 yards.
The first shot awoke the echoes from the rocks above, and
the bullet-thud was clearly heard. The great hairy bulls,
with bloodshot eyes and heads in the air, faced round
and made some startled runs, grunting savagely, but
stopped short to reconnoitre for their concealed enemy.
Five more barrels were emptied, and still they came on
almost up to the rocks where we crouched, frantically
loading up and cramming in bullets and ramming them
down, for the rifles were old-fashioned muzzle-loaders.

128 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

14 and i6-bore, loaded with conical bullets and four
drachms of powder. The biggest bull had been hit four
times, but seemed none the worse, while his companion,
also getting a bullet in the chest, thought it wise to
retreat up the valley. But the first, discovering his
enemy, staggered on, foaming with rage, and fell to the
last two barrels, which struck him in the head within a
few yards of the moraine. He was game to the last, and
was only stopped by weight of lead — a grand beast,
seventeen hands at the shoulder, and weighing as much
as any prize shorthorn.

Great was the joy of Munnoo, who begged to be allowed
to put a bullet in him. He performed the usual halal —
throat-cutting, etc. He not being a Mussulman, and un-
able to repeat the usual prayer for the soul of the animal,
the meat would have been useless to people of that per-
suasion ; but there were only two followers of the Prophet
in the camp, and they pretended that the halal was all
right, like sensible men, and said nothing. The head was
cut off with the skin for preserving, and the skin removed
and dried. The flesh was cut up in strips and hung by
the men to dry in the hot sun ; it was coarse and tough,
but came useful to the carriers to save flour and rice.

I had sent a message to Hodgson to come and follow
the other bull, which had retreated to a deep valley under
a glacier. He came next day, and was successful in
shooting it. We had several other stalks after big bulls,
which haunted the valleys of the range running eastward
of Gurla Mandhata. There is a very fine peak called
Limi belonging to this range, where some great glaciers
exist at the heads of the valleys which debouch into the
river flowing towards the east. All these valleys were
of a totally distinct character from the precipitous gorges
and caiions on the Himalayan side. The climate was

GURLA MANDHATA 129

almost rainless, and there were no deep valleys cut out
by torrents ; only rounded ridges with flats lying between,
and the streams were few and small, depending almost
entirely on the melting of the snow. The country further
to the east and north opened out into wide plains, sloping
gradually to the river Tsampu, which flows eastward.
Here were the sources of the great Brahmaputra, origi-
nating from the glaciers of Gurla. The trade route from
Gartok to Lhasa runs along the main valley. We could
see at times the camping-ground of Duksam, where were
some tents of the traders, who had yaks, ponies, and many
pack-sheep.

On the plains to the south-east we came across camps
of the shepherd Hunias, with immense flocks of grazing
sheep and goats, who lived in black yak's-hair tents
stretched over circular stone-built walls, exactly after the
pattern of those of the Arabs in Algiers. These walls were
placed in convenient places by some water stream and
where grass grew, and were occupied when the sheep and
yaks were driven to fresh pastures. We found these
people very polite, and they sold us a fat sheep occasion-
ally, and milk and cheese and butter, which last was
made up in balls, and sewed into bags of goat-skin with
the hairy side inwards. The contents of these bags were
so full of hair that the butter had to be melted or combed
out with a fork before it could be used, but it was not at
all to be despised when eaten with very dry chapatis, and
it was excellent for cooking. The cheese was new, white,
half-pressed stuff, but, barring the hair, it was not bad.
The shepherd women used to milk the sheep morning and
evening. They were driven together and tied in long rows
to a yak's-hair rope, each with a loop round its neck.
Then the women walked down the line with pails, milking
the goats and sheep as they came, with a peculiar slapping

9

I30 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

jerk of the hand. The milk was very rich, and a little
went a long way in our tea, but it had not the disagreeable
taste which goat's and sheep's milk mixed has in the
Tyrol, suggesting pig's milk. We occasionally had tea
with these primitive pastoral people. We sat on the
ground, and the women brought it, very black, in little
cups, some of which seemed to be familiar Staffordshire
pottery. They offered us tea made in their own method,
boiled into a kind of soup, with butter and sugar added
and the leaves not extracted. We did not care for this
mixture. Everyone carried a fiat wooden bowl of turned
sycamore or maple, and licked it clean after the meal.
They showed us their brick tea, which they said came
from China on camels. They would gladly buy Indian
tea if cheaper than the Chinese. They also had herds of
tame yaks grazing, and we saw one beautiful snow-white
bull, which was being taken to some religious ceremony.
Its coat was as soft and silky as ermine, and the long fringe
and bushy tail were combed out and swept the ground.
The white tails are very valuable for making chowries,
used by the Nawabs of India to brush the flies away. I
purchased two for about fifty rupeies, and had them
mounted in silver with antelope horns for handles. They
all spoke of the Khampa log as robbers, armed with
matchlocks, and to be met with on the great plains north-
ward. These people had no arms to speak of, and seemed
peaceable and harmless shepherds.

Colonel Smyth and Mr. Drummond explored a con-
siderable extent of country, the former having marched
east and northward over the Mariam La. He joined our
camp, having shot several fine specimens of the Tibet
antelope, A. Hodgsoniensis, which we came across on the
open plains in herds of ten or twenty. They are not unlike
in size and habits to the Indian antelope ; but their coats

GURLA MANDHATA 131

are, of course, suitable to the cold climate, very thick and
hairy, and their horns are slightly lyre-shaped, but not
spiral. We also met the goa, or Tibet gazelle, very fre-
quently. This beautiful little animal is found singly or
in pairs, and is very difficult to shoot, being very small
and almost impossible to stalk. It frequents flat places,
and will not let one approach nearer than two or three
hundred yards. Its horns are like the Indian chinkara's,
but more slender. Mr. Drummond had met Ovis A mmon,
and shot two good rams. The Bhotia carriers having
now nearly run short of flour and rice, and being anxious
to return to their homes, we started again westward, and
by long and rapid marches returned by the pass of Dak
Eo to Taklakhar, bringing our trophies of the chase, and
without any mishap, except that we nearly lost a man
on the pass. Our last camp before crossing was very
high up in the same place where we had camped going
over.

In the night it came on to snow, and the small tents
under which we slept were almost weighed down, and
required constant thumping from inside to shake off the
snow. In the morning, on looking out, the scene was a
desolate one, snow still drifting, and nothing to be seen
but white. The snow had fallen 10 inches deep, and the
men, who slept on the ground covered with their blankets,
were completely buried. There were mounds where they
lay, like graves. Luckily the snow suddenly ceased, and a
general resurrection occurred. We got the loads packed
with difficulty and terrible cold hands. Sheep-skin coats
were the fashion, and cold victuals. However, after much
struggling and arguments among the carriers as to whose
load was the heaviest, no one being in too good a temper,
we got under way and floundered on in the soft snow.
The yaks were, of course, sent ahead to cut a path, which

9—2

132 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

they did to perfection ; and, indeed, without these sturdy
and sagacious animals I doubt whether many of us could
have got over so high a pass in deep, fresh snow. But
we had a long day and struggled on, arriving at our old
camp, where was a stream and sheltering caves and no
snow, not before sundown, without a halt the entire day.
We were often nearly exhausted from the high elevation
and hard tramping, and had to appease our hunger by
munching saitu and biscuits. Some men, as usual, got
snow-blind, and had to be helped along, for the sun came
out fierce and strong right overhead ; and when we got to
camp and fires were lighted and hot tea made, we felt
as if we had been rescued from an anxious position. One
unfortunate servant was missing ; he was a plainsman, and
had been seen very ill on the top of the pass. We called
for volunteers to return to rescue him, but few responded.
Hodgson and I started with two Bhotias, shouting and
moving a light, and went a considerable distance, but
had to return without the man. In the morning, which
was bright and fine, he turned up all right, having slept,
he said, in a cave. We reached Taklakhar without much
delay, and said good-bye to our friends the lama and
Zung-pun, who presented us with small gifts, and seemed
very glad when we finally crossed by the Bians Pass back
to the Indian side. The customs of the Buddhists and
their praying machines and prayers, ' 0 mani padmi ho P
and their carving of the sacred formula on every rock
and stone which must be passed, always in one direc-
tion, left to right — these things have been described fre-
quently in books of travel, from Dr. Hooker's down to the
latest. Captain Wellby's, and do not need further recording.
We had found the Hunias a very harmless well-mean-
ing people, and had experienced no difficulties, when
once we had come to an agreement with the proper

GURLA MANDHATA 133

authorities, in going as far as we liked to go. We had
penetrated a country which few Europeans had ever
entered, and crossed over to the watershed of the great
unexplored valley of the Brahmaputra. We had shot
fine specimens of its very rare game, and gained ex-
perience in ascending very high altitudes. We had as-
cended very high up on the shoulder of one of the most
remarkable mountains in the world, the little -known
Gurla Mandhata. This conspicuous mountain might
appropriately be called the Peak of Asia, as from its
glaciers the three great rivers, Indus, Ganges, and Brahma-
putra, take their rise — rivers most celebrated in the world's
history, and flowing through vast distances and countries
to different oceans, and draining the highest and most
extensive plateau in the world.

CHAPTER XII

PLAINS OF GYANIMA : HOME OF THE ' OVIS AMMON '

The month of August was now commencing, when the
rains in India are still on with all their force. The mon-
soon or south-west winds blow up from the Indian Ocean,
charged with steamy hot vapour, which is deposited as
it cools on the southern slopes of the great Himalayan
range in the form of a continued downpour. In some
portions of the hills a rainfall of 400 inches is recorded in
the six months' monsoon, a depth of 25 feet of water over
the whole surface of the country. It was not an agreeable
season for remaining in the Himalayan valleys, where
survey work was impossible. Colonel Smyth having in-
spected the Bhotia schools in Lower Bians valley, we
marched up the upper valley, following the Kali river,
with the intention of crossing by the Kuti Pass again into
Tibet. Messrs. Drummond and Hodgson returned south-
ward. The upper reaches of the Kali open out into a wide
and picturesque valley with grassy slopes, where the
Bhotias kept many tame yaks grazing. Smyth purchased
eight cows, and we hired nine others to carry our loads.
These eight were subsequently sent to England to the
Zoological Society in London to be acclimatized. They
die in India from the heat, but would do well in Scotland
or the Swiss Alps. We camped at the highest village of
Kuti, and prepared for the morrow's ascent. These higher

PLAINS OF GYANIMA 135

valleys, resembling the upper valleys of the Alps, such as
the vall^ of the St. Gothard and Brenner or the Val
d'Alzaska, seem less subject to rain ; and, indeed, the
climate was delightful and warm after Tibet. There
were forests of Pinus excelsa and birch, and a profusion
of wild flowers covered the ground — white anemones,
potentillas, strawberries, wild gooseberries, and rhubarb,
and a thousand gay flowering plants. Here was the home
of many marmots and choughs. The valleys contained
glaciers, with great moraine beds twisting down the sides,
the black ice breaking off in masses. Above were the
snow-white summits of many peaks.

The Bhotias of Kuti supplied yak drivers, one for each
pair of yaks, and saddles made of wood, to which the
loads and provisions for one month were securely attached
by ropes made of yak's hair, very light and strong.
Colonel Smyth had a tent of the smallest dimensions,
lined with woollen stuff, just large enough for him to lie
down, with a division in the centre making a second
chamber at the other end for his servant, who was a very
useful Kumaoni. Thus equipped, with the smallest
amount of kit possible, they had crossed nearly every
high pass in Kumaon, and done as much mountaineering
as could be got in during years spent in visiting all the
villages in a province as large as France, and instituting
and inspecting schools everywhere. I had the pleasure
of being present at several of his inspections here and in
the Milam valley, where prizes were given to the best
scholars. These Bhotia people are very intelligent and
well-to-do, as all the trade in borax, salt, and flour, and
goods of many kinds from India, passes through their
hands. They are a fine, athletic mountain race very Hke
the Gurkhas, not at all dark-skinned, and with features
between the Aryan and the Tartar. Their women are

136 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

much better looking than the Hunias, and dress more
like the Hindus, but do their hair in a long flat plait hang-
ing behind, in which rough turquoise stones are set.

August 6 found us on the top of the Kuti Pass about
noon, after a climb of eight hours. This time the Hunias
had not got word of our advance, and no one was there
to stop us ; in fact, during the whole trip we received
great civility from the pastoral and trading parties which
we met. The halt made for tiffin, and to collect the bag-
gage animals and men who straggled behind, was welcome.
The thermometer was boiled, and gave about 18,000 feet.
It was intensely cold, with cloud and snow driving.
Snow lay deep on the north side, but we got peeps through
the mist of the characteristic red and yellow coloured
shingly plains below, reminding one that this was no
longer Hindustan. The descent was over a great glacier
which filled the valley beneath our feet. It was of clear
ice, with lines of crevasses across, and streamlets flowing
down in lines vertically, and long lines of white quartz
rocks, which had fallen from precipices above and were
gradually being borne downwards until they reached the
lowest edge, where great blocks of ice were falling con-
stantly into the valley below. These blocks carried with
them the rocks and stones and mud, which fell in the same
place, forming a huge pile of stuff.

Each glacier has usually its three lines of stones, two
lateral and one central. The central line goes down into
the roaring torrent which issues from a great ice cave
into the gorge below. The lateral lines are deposited at
each edge of the valley. As the glaciers of these parts
seem to have receded like those of Europe, owing to changes
of climate since the glacial period, it is natural that the
debris, which has been tilted over for thousands of years
in the same place on the ice, should leave great lines of

PLAINS OF GYANIMA 137

stones buried in mud in the valley below. To those who
have not studied geology and the works of Tyndall and
Geikie, the moraine lines, which wind like great snails,
and are found in many countries where glaciers have never
been heard of, seem very inexplicable. Here the process
was going on quite intelligibly. It was necessary to cross
over a couple of miles of clear ice, the yaks going on ahead
and avoiding bad crevasses. The clambering off the ice
and on to the moraine, where a great gap existed from
ice melting, was the ugliest part, but convenient snow-
drifts still unmelted were chosen by the yaks, and at
length our feet were on terra-firma. Terra it certainly
was, but not firma, for the soft mud was treacherous for
the poor beasts' feet, and the great stones and rocks
formed an insecure footway ; but at last we emerged on
the flat shingly slopes of the valley below, and leaving
behind the dazzling snow-drifts and slippery ice, and the
dark caverns where the roar of waters and falling icebergs
made the most hideous noise, the whole party rejoiced in
the bright sunshine and warmth and easy going. The
rocky bare summits of the watershed are the habitation
of numerous graceful birds, familiar to those who have
been on the cliffs of Cornwall and the west of Ireland, or
Mount Pilatus in Switzerland — the Cornish chough,
Graculus eremita. Their red bills and legs and glossy
black plumage, and their wild cries as they circle round
the rock pinnacles, are characteristic of all the passes,
and remind one of very different scenes.

Soon we were welcomed by the neighing of numerous
wild horses to the land of the kiang. Several herds kept
circling round, the old stallions approaching in a quite
threatening manner, snorting, squealing, and kicking up
their heels, while the mares and foals galloped off at a
more respectful distance. Some beautiful little gazelles

138 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

(goa) bounded off like Italian greyhounds, and a flock of
female Ovis Ammon was sighted on the adjoining hills,
looking like red deer rather than sheep. A herd of
burrhel had been startled while ascending the pass. The
country next march northward was all bare rolling hills,
with a few tufts only of broom and stones, where were
great flocks of Kashmir white goats and tall sheep grazing
round the black tents of the natives. Following the
Duryumpti river, a source of the Sutlej, we came to a
large encampment of traders at a plain called Gyanima ;
and two marches brought us to a deep valley between
walls of rocks, called Jaidam, with a clear, beautiful
stream bubbling over pebbles, and plenty of grass for
the beasts. This was reached after crossing a low range
of hills. No sahib had ever been here before, but Smyth
had heard of the ground as good for Ovis Ammon. There
were innumerable white hares, all so tame they would
not run away. The camp was a pleasant, sheltered one,
and we determined to keep it standing and hunt all round
from here.

The sunset across the plains of Tibet has a peculiar
character, quite different from anywhere else. The colour
is more crude, and the air seems, as it really is, quite
thin. After the burning, scorching heat of the sun
blazing down from straight overhead, there comes a very
sudden chill, when the great red orb goes down with a run,
and darkness comes on at once. There is no chance of
lighting a big fire, as fuel is of the scarcest, and to keep
warm one must put on all the clothes in one's wardrobe,
and after dinner get to bed as soon as possible between
big heavy blankets.

The ground was perfectly dry, and retained some
warmth, but towards morning it froze pretty hard. We
had seen numerous tracks of the great sheep, an animal

PLAINS OF GYANIMA 139

as large as a donkey, whose slot is heavier than that
of a i2-point stag. The hunting of a new species met
with for the first time is an interesting novelty for the
stalker, and the anticipation, when nearly about to be
realized, becomes absorbing. The climate of this high
elevation is of itself most exciting to the nerves, which
seem often too much strained, when sleeplessness is the
result, or very light and interrupted slumbers, which do
not rest one. Drinking tea perpetually also tends to
aggravate the complaint, and the greater rapidity of the
heart's and lungs' action combines to produce an excessive
tension resembling fever. The lot was drawn as to which
side of our camp each was to hunt the day following ;
and we were glad to he down on camp beds, which, if
narrow, were comfortable and warm enough. Dreams
of great rams' heads peering into the tent were so vivid
that one had to jump out of bed and drive away the
imaginary intruders. Scarcely had sleep come again to
weigh down the heavy eyes when the howl of a prowling
wolf round the tents and the fierce barking of the dogs
would rouse one with a startling reminder to feel for the
revolver under the pillow, and see that the rifles are tied
to the tent-pole. Would day never come ? Half a dozen
times matches were struck to look at the hour, and as
often a peep would be taken from the tent door to
look for the dawn ; but the stars still shone with
provoking brilliance, and the nakuar log* slept heavily
round the tents, and all seemed quiet and night un-
ending.

At last it was the hour to begin the day's task : haziri
was served, and a sleepy start was made while still the
morning star shone brightly in the east, and a streak of
light along the horizon was all that could be seen. My

* Servants.

I40 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

shikari, Kunkoo, led the way, with a strong Bhotia carry-
ing second rifle, and a pony was led behind.

Truly the native superstition, that if the fairies or
deities of the jungle are not propitiated the bullets
will not hit, was well proved to be an irrefutable dogma.
When daylight came we had crossed some hills, and from
time to time searched all the slopes in view with the
binoculars. Sure enough there was some movement
among the gray limestone rocks opposite, which just
caught the eye, and on bringing the glasses to bear I
could see three tall, gray, deer-like animals grazing where
some green grass grew. The colour of their smooth coats,
almost white underneath, was so like the rocks that it
was almost impossible to distinguish them. The dark
heads and massive horns were slightly moving as they
grazed.

Kunkoo, my new shikari from Milam, sank down flat
and motioned me to do so, and we crept back behind the
brow of the ridge. There was a hght breeze, blowing
down the valley which we had to cross lower down ; and
choosing our point of approach up a side ravine we hur-
ried on, out of sight of the trio, making a considerable
detour over rough shingly ground, till we completed an
easy stalk, and at last got a peep at them from behind
some rocks. The biggest was standing with head in the
air, showing that he suspected danger.

The judging of distance when sighting an animal of
unknown size and in a rarefied atmosphere is excessively
difficult, and one is apt to make extraordinary mistakes.
It was judged in this case to be 200 yards, but on pacing
it afterwards it was found to be nearer 300. The 150
yards sight was used, and the breast of the big ram aligned.
A steady long pull on the trigger to avoid jerking. Hurrah !
the bullet hit with a loud crack, and the ram fell on his

PLAINS OF GYANIMA 141

head as if struck by lightning. The others went off with
speed, and three shots at their sterns struck the ground
wide and harmless. Kunkoo was wild with joy, and,
while I loaded, ran up to the prostrate ram. This seemed
easy work, and Smyth's stories of the difficulties of
bringing Ovis Ammon to bag must be exaggerated. Alas
for the uncertainties of the chase ! This was but a
momentary triumph. The big ram had been only stunned
by being hit in the horn, and, recovering rapidly, he
struggled to his legs before Kunkoo could reach him,
and galloped off with his tail in the air as if nothing had
happened to him, while I stood ramming down bullets
and putting on caps, sick with rage and disappointment.
He disappeared over the next rise on the track of the
others, going strong, and none the worse for the bullet.
We hastened on his tracks ; and when we rose to the top
of the ridge they were all three together on the third
ridge, going like racehorses. The great tracks were in
the soft gravel, and not a sign of blood. We followed for
a mile or two, and then before us lay a wide flat or broad
valley, and we sat down to scan the opposite slopes,
quartering the ground with the glasses. The three tracks
here had been multiplied by many, and we could see that
a large flock had gone down the slope where we lay.
Presently — oh, joy ! — we caught sight of twelve fine rams
quietly browsing about a mile off on the side of a ridge
under a line of rocks ; some were lying down, so they
had not seen us or got any alarm.

By making a detour, they could be reached easily,
and the line of rocks would form a shelter to stalk them.
Getting on the pony, to avoid the unsteadiness caused by
scrambling on foot over rough stones, the circuit of several
miles was accomplished. The ridge was gained, and the
wind being right from them, the moment of peeping over

142 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

the rocks was one of fearful anxiety and extreme caution.
Sure enough there lay below the rocks fifteen splendid
rams, a few of them grazing, some asleep with their
massive horns resting on the ground. There were several
very old ones with enormous cartwheels of horns, very
thin, and as if overburdened by the great weight. To
choose the biggest was some difficulty. At last the crack
of the rifle woke these startled giants from their peaceful
repose. The bullet went high, clean over the ram's back,
though the distance was under 200 yards and the sight
taken was without any elevation. The stampede was
immense. They looked as big as donkeys, and, except
for their unmistakable horns, as little like sheep as
possible. To miss such a mark was simply maddening.
The second barrel, however, struck a good-sized ram in
the shoulder, and he soon tailed off with a foreleg disabled
and the bone evidently smashed. Then commenced a
stem chase up a steep mountain. Every five minutes we
saw the great beast some half-mile ahead of us slowly
toiling onward with a foreleg swinging, and our hopes were
raised that he must soon collapse ; but he would again
appear slinging along over easier ground, as he emerged
from behind frequent ridges. Sometimes he was joined
by another ram, which seemed to encourage him and run
off again at right angles, so as to mislead us in tracking ;
but there was no difficulty as to the tracks, for blood
flowed profusely and the stones were spotted with red,
gory marks. The labour and exhaustion from running
and scrambling up rocky hillsides was immense, and the
anxiety of keeping him in sight made the chase a fearfully
weary one. Panting violently for breath and perspiring,
Kunkoo kept on bravely ahead and beckoned to me to run
on. At last, after miles of this work and what seemed
hours of toil, sloping along the steep side of the mountain,

PLAINS OF GYANIMA 143

we saw the poor brute lie down near the top of a cirding
ridge. Kunkoo advised letting him lie for a while till
he stiffened. This was a welcome opportunity to sit
down and recover our wind, which we did, and satiated
our thirst from a handy snow-bed, and our hunger by
munching sattu, or parched grain.

Presently, as we scrambled up towards the ground
where he lay, thinking he would not again rise, he sprang
to his feet and disappeared over the top of the hill high
amongst the clouds and snow, accompanied by the other
ram. Two shots at 400 yards struck the sky, but not the
rams.

It was now getting late in the day, and we were terribly
tired ; but on finding pools of blood where the ram had
lain, we struggled on over the hilltop, which was not
such bad going, expecting momentarily to come on the
ram. The tracks were easily seen in snow and banks of
wet mud and gravel, and the blood-spots were constant.
At last he took a downward course, and we sighted him
crossing a valley half a mile below us, walking slowly and
limping badly. Our hopes were again revived, and
Kunkoo's yellow eyes twinkled as he held up a stone
well marked with blood, declaring that he would never
go home till the sahib killed the big ram. Crossing the
valley we pursued, though nearly worn out, and footsore
with the sharp stones. We saw him enter a gully which
cut the top of the next ridge ; here it began to snow, and
clouds concealed the view, but we went on the track,
leading to a rocky precipice, from the top of which we
could see valleys stretching away to the north where the
clouds permitted. The ram was nowhere to be seen, and
we wondered if he had fallen over.

Suddenly there was a noise of stones falling, and looking
towards it I could just see the top of the ram's head over

144 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

a big rock not ten yards away. He had his ears cocked
as if listening, and was looking away. The rifle was soon
bearing upon the back of his head, and the bullet this
time did not strike the horn, but exactly in the centre
between where the horns grew. He seemed to fall over
the precipice, but was brought up by a big rock. There
he lay stone dead, never again to lead his pursuers across
the ridges and valleys of his native hills, a splendid
specimen of primeval wildness. Here lay the great
phantom sheep, the father of all mutton, the ancestor
of all the varied breeds of domestic sheep which the world
contains, tracked back after ages of domestication and
changes wrought by climate and conditions of pasture
to the original stock. As usual, domestication has vastly
deteriorated him as regards size and power of defence
against enemies. In comparative ease and safety, with
fewer enemies to run from, the domestic sheep has thick-
ened out from good pasture, and become shorter in the
leg, while his hair has changed to wool.

The head of the nyang is unmistakably like the
Scotch homy. The coat is all hair on the surface, but
the wool is there in the form of pashm, a fluffy kind of
underwool which seems constant in all Tibet animals, to
protect them from the intense cold of winter. No sheep
with the open wool and weaker physique of the domestic
sorts could survive the hardships of this cHmate. That
the Ovis Ammon is the common sheep, and not a distinct
species, seems highly probable. The Rocky Mountain
sheep, which I have also seen in its native wilds and shot,
is apparently the same species, varied only as to size.*
The horns are mostly identical and the coat also. This
fine specimen weighed fully as much as a red deer stag,

* Measurement of Ov!s A;n7non horns taken, the best of the bag :
girth at base 17^ inches ; length measured outside 42 i inches.

PLAINS OF GYANIMA

145

and stood nearly as high. His feet were like those of a
calf, and his track much bigger than a red deer's ; the
toes are less pointed and more upright. The horns were
massive, and curled in a beautiful curve, almost circular.

The old rams get immensely heavy and thick horns,
weighing over thirty pounds, and the natives say that
they have often come across cases of the animal dying
of starvation because his horns grew so large that they
prevented him grazing, the mouth not reaching the ground.
Indeed, we saw very old and weather-beaten heads lying
on the ground which agreed with this description. The
great sheep found further north in Central Asia, and known
as the Ovis Poli, seems to be only a variety of the same
species, the horns spreading outwards from the skull in
a pattern similar to that of the common domestic sheep of
Tibet, of which great flocks exist all over these plains.
The varieties of curve in the horns of domestic sheep
and cattle in different countries, which are without dis-
pute the same species, are quite as marked and persistent
as those of the Ovis Ammon and Poli.

Dr. Jerdon describes the nyang or Ovis Ammon as
measuring 12 to 13 hands high, and 6 feet in length,
differing very little, except in size, from the Rocky
Mountain sheep (to which I can agree, having shot both).
The latter are only about 10 hands, but have very massive
horns. Other forms of sheep exist in Armenia, Kam-
schatka, and the plains of the Pamirs, which may all be
the same species and the prototypes of domestic sheep,
except that the latter has a long woolly tail, whereas the
wild sheep has a short tail like a deer. The horns of the
Ovis Ammon have been known to measure 24 inches in
girth at base, and 45 inches round the curve. There is
another wild sheep in the Punjab which has similar
horns, but much smaller — the urial of the Salt range.

10

146 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

This animal, living in a hot, dry climate, has very short
hair and no wool or pashm, and its horns are much Hghter.
The domestic sheep of the plains of India is as small as
the little Welsh mountain sheep, and has got a coarse
kind of wool, more frequently black than white. During
the dry season, when grass is almost all burnt up, it
suffers from starvation and heat. It would be interesting
to know if all these sheep wiU breed together or not. I
imagine they will interbreed.

To finish the record of this day's shikar, the most
remarkable of a long experience, the great beast was left
partly covered up with stones and broom bushes, which
grew on the face of the khud. It began to snow and sleet
in an unpleasant manner, and we were in doubt which
way to go to get to camp ; but Kunkoo was not long in
fault, and we hurried on, following down a vaUey which
presently opened out in the right direction. We had
been out since 5 a.m. and were pretty tired and hungry,
and evening was fast closing. The pony had been left
with his syce early in the day, and we had a long distance
to tramp. Luckily the snow ceased and clouds began to
clear, and as we rounded a bend in the valley, by the edge
of the stream there stood, not 100 yards away, six splendid
old rams, quietly drinking. They just lifted their great
heads and stared at the unexpected apparition. Their
large black eyes and gracefully curved horns were most
striking, and they did not seem at aU alarmed. Steadying
the rifle which I was carrying, I took a most deliberate
aim, and, oh horror ! the rifle missed fire, the second barrel
likewise. They went off behind some rocks. Beckoning
to Kunkoo, who was coming after me, to hand me the
other rifle, I rushed round the rocks, and was overjoyed
to see that they were standing not 200 yards off, again
staring in my direction. Choosing the biggest head, I

PLAINS OF GYANIMA 147

felt now sure of a trophy, but, alas ! the sleet had pene-
trated the nipples of this rifle also, and the caps were wet ;
the first barrel was a miss-fire and the second a hang-fire,
so the astonished nyang scampered off unharmed, and
swearing was not the word for the expressions which
followed. Such is the uncertainty of big game shooting.
The disadvantages of the old nipple and copper cap
muzzle-loading rifles were indeed most serious, and bara
shikar in India was very much handicapped before
breech-loaders were invented. Yet for how many years
sportsmen went on believing fondly that the percussion
cap was the most perfect arrangement that modem
science could invent, and that breech-loaders could never
supersede it ! Little did we think that not one, but fifty
different patterns of breech-loaders would have come into
use, and magazine rifles, so perfect and practical that it
is hard to know which is the best. Big game had some
chance of escaping in days gone by, but now in a few
years big game will be no more.

The night came on rapidly, and sleet turned to snow.
It was ten o'clock before the camp was reached. We
were thoroughly tired out and hungry and cold. How-
ever, Smyth, who had not had a shot, congratulated us
on having secured a good head ; and a good fire made of
yak's dung before the tent door warmed everything up,
and hot soup, followed by stewed hare and a roast snow
pheasant and a small glass of grog, kept for occasions
only, did wonders in re^oring the inner man, Smyth,
who considered Ovis Amnion to be the most difficult game
to find and shoot of all that exist, was surprised at the
number of rams I had come across. He declared that to
get ten shots in one day at good heads was a piece of
fortune he had never experienced. He expected that
they would now leave this locality, having been disturbed,

148 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and his expectation proved correct ; for during the next
three days we hunted miles of fine country in vain, and
saw plenty of tracks, but no nyang. We had several
shots at the beautiful little gazelle called goa.*

It is astonishing how full these great plains and rolling
hills are of animal life, principally birds, which are quite
tame. They nest in numbers on the ground, and the air
is full of larks singing aloft, besides numerous small
migratory birds, which sit and look at one at five
yards off. There is also a remarkable bird, the snow
pheasant or snow cock {Tetraogallus Tihetanus). When
tramping over the bare ground, one sees troops of them
running amongst the stones and rocks, stooping low and
almost invisible from their gray colour when they squat.
They seldom take wing except when flushed by a dog, and
then the whole covey runs and rises and shoots along
about two feet above the bare ground. They are heavy,
fat birds about the size of a bemicle goose, and have
powerful bills and feet like turkeys. They are easy to
shoot with a rifle, and are excellent eating, being layered
with goose-like fat.

There are also snow partridges {Lerwa nivicola) re-
sembling a ptarmigan, which sit close and are almost
invisible on the bare ground in coveys.

* The goa is described by Jerdon as a distinct species, the Pro-
capra picticaudata of Hodgson.

CHAPTER XIII
NO man's land : ravines, deep valleys, and high

PASSES

It was now getting near the time when the rains slacken
in the plains of India, and the sun begins to go southward.
It is no longer vertical, and we have a sensible diminution
of temperature and colder nights. There is a route over
the range crossing to the Bhotia country at Milam by
the Milam ghat. The country to the north of this pass
is so cut up by ravines and deep defiles, formed on one
side by the head waters of the Sutlej, and on the other by
the affluents of the Ganges flowing southward right
through the range, that there are three passes to cross —
the Balch Dhura, Kyungar Dhura, and Unta Dhura —
with deep defiles between, before reaching Milam. Such
a confusion of valleys and mountains exists that it is hard
to understand the geography. These valleys are a sort
of no man's land, and if snow falls travellers are liable to
be trapped in them from drifts stopping up the ghats.
The geology of this country is most remarkable, and the
formation of the rocks, from their being so mixed up and
contorted and turned upside down, has been described
by Sir R. Strachey, R.E., who surveyed the country, as
chaos.

Having hunted a considerable area of open plains for
Ovis Ammon during two weeks, during which we had

ISO THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

var5H[ng success, but never a day like the first one described,
and having got some good heads and also brought to bag
several good burrhel, which were excellent for mutton, we
turned again for the passes towards Milam. During this
march, which was all over country of the same barren
character — wide valleys and ridges, all of rocky shingle,
with grass growing only in the lower valleys — we scarcely
met any natives, nor any traders, as they keep to the
regular routes, and only one encampment of Hunias of
the shepherd class, with flocks of sheep and shawl goats.
These beautiful animals, of which I purchased a couple,
have long silky white hair of the finest quality falling
from their backs. The pashm is used for making the soft
Rampur chaddars.

These people were very civil, and supplied us with butter
and milk. Our Bhotia guides steered more by direction
than by knowledge of the paths, of which there were none
very marked, only sheep tracks leading in every direction.
The natives accounted for game being scarce by supposing
that a pack of wild dogs had lately been hunting the
country. This is a common story told by shikaris in
India, but except on one occasion, in the Central Provinces,
I have never, in ten years spent mostly in jungles, come
across them. Whether the wild dogs, which certainly
occur in the Himalayan forests, come across into Tibet to
hunt the Ovis Ammon is a question difficult to determine,
but it is quite possible.

On one of our marches we were told that it would be
hard to find water. A Hunia from a shepherd camp,
who gave us some fresh milk, was good enough to volun-
teer to show us where there was water, and rode on ahead
on his rough pony. We followed him for hours up a
winding valley till night came on, hoping to be soon able
to come to camp ; but where he expected to find water

NO MAN'S LAND 151

the spring was dry. The ponies and yaks carrying our
loads were very weary and thirsty, the yaks grunting
frequently to one another. We had all to lump it, and
pitch our tents and go thirsty to bed. Luckily we had the
kettle full of milk, and made chocolate ; but, between the
thickness of the mixture and the richness of the milk, it
was a sickening beverage, and we felt thirstier after drink-
ing it, and suffered indigestion as well as thirst. At first
dayhght the yak drivers had collected and loaded the
poor, thirsty beasts, and we started, still following the
ravine, and over the top of a high plateau and down to the
north-west in the direction of our route. Panting under
a hot sun, we pushed on, riding our stout ponies ; at
last, down in a hollow where paths converged, we came on
a green pool of stagnant water. There were tracks of
yaks and sheep having been here recently standing in the
muddy pond. Our poor ponies rushed in and thoroughly
enjoyed themselves, gulping down the turbid liquid,
though it resembled pea-soup. We waved to our following
to come on, as we could see the melancholy procession of
yaks and men just topping the hills we had crossed. On
they came with improving speed, as if scenting the water,
and soon all had their noses well immersed. Having filled
a vessel from the least disturbed place, and filtered the
contents through pocket-handkerchiefs into a degchi, our
servants were not long in boiling the stuff ; and when made
into tea it was the most delicious drink imaginable.

The vertical sun was hot ; the bare arid ground, covered
with hot stones, reflected its dazzling brilliance, and the
heat was as tr5nng as in the plains of India, and the direct
rays much stronger, owing to the perfectly clear atmo-
sphere. We, as usual, boiled the thermometer, and found
it over 16,000 feet. The water boiled at 180° temperature.
The direct rays of the sun raised the thermometer when

152 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

protected from the wind to over i6o° Fahrenheit ; so
that at an elevation a Uttle higher the sun was actually
hot enough to boil the kettle. When we came to exposed
places, or when night came on, the cold wind was most
cutting after the heat of the mid-day sun, and our faces
were burned and blistered beyond recognition. Our noses
suffered most, and became cracked across the bridge in
several places, open, bleeding gaps down to the bone.
The eyes were also affected from the glare, and if our noses
had been seared with red-hot irons they could not look or
feel worse. It took many months for these scars to heal.
The Bhotias gave us some excellent ointment called
fulteel, made from a tree in Nepal. It was like spermaceti
ointment and had a pleasant smell. With this we covered
our faces daily, and made nose caps of fur to keep off
the cold wind, which it was agony to face without some
protection. We looked as greasy as the rest of the in-
habitants. Washing operations were not a luxury, the
water being generally about freezing-point in the morn-
ings ; but we usually postponed them till breakfast, or
rather tiffin-time, when the sun was strong. Life in this
grand, bracing air is thoroughly exhilarating ; one feels
always hungry, and muscle and condition become of the
hardest. But there are drawbacks to one's comfort ; and
being on the tramp day after day from 6 a.m. often till
10 p.m. is trying and desperately hard work, especially
as sleep is disturbed at night from the high elevation.
No wonder that the natives are a lazy-looking lot, and
never walk a yard if they can ride. The rare atmosphere,
luckily, does not affect the ponies, which seem in capital
wind, and clamber up the steep hills without showing
distress. Some of the ponies will not stand too pro-
tracted marching, and go lame from the toes wearing away
and the blood coming, but after a few days' rest the horn

NO MAN'S LAND 153

grows again without ill effect. We saw only rarely a
pony with shoes, though they seemed to get very little
idle time. Gunt ponies will go in India without shoes,
except in the rains, when the horn gets too soft.

One usually camps in a valley where there is some
grass, and the ponies and yaks know how to find out the
good places, and will stray away if the camp is not well
chosen. But the yak drivers are careful to find a good
place, as the straying involves a tiresome search, and
watch their charges well at night, tethering one or two
if necessary. We only lost our animals once in the night,
and they had not strayed far. We hunted a country
known as the Lai pahar, the ' red hills,' from the colour
of the soil, which is Indian red, approaching to deep
crimson in places and vermilion in others, where we had
several stalks after Ovis Ammon and burrhel, with no
great success, as the ground was too open to get near
enough to such wary beasts. We came, after several
camps, into a most peculiar country. The soil here was
composed of alluvial sand and gravel, and there appeared
in front of us an almost level plateau ; but to get across
it entailed climbing down into an endless succession of
deep nullahs, all trending towards the Sutlej, which ran
to the north-east, while our course was south-west, and
either clambering up again, only to perform the same
operation incessantly, or following the nullahs, which led
down in the wrong direction. Their depth was only a
few yards at the higher levels, where thousands of vein-
like affluent trickles had cut into the soil, converging to
one another and joining two or three into one deeper
ravine, which went on winding and getting ever deeper
as the side-streams joined in, until the depth of each
nullah would be 100, increasing to 500 feet, with sides
so steep it was hard to climb up them. Not that there

154 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

was any water in these ravines ; for until one got to a main
artery in a particularly central nullah there would be not a
sign of a stream. There are many places in India near the
Ganges and Jumna where such ravine-ground exists ; but
there in the rains every nullah has its little torrent, and
the process of cutting into the soft soil is going on under
one's eyes. In Tibet there is no rain to speak of, and
snow faUs in winter not too heavily. When these deep
ravines were cut out, and how many thousand years it
took, is a mystery. The cutting was done, certainly, by
water and not by ice, its action being perfectly distinct.
Here there are no marks of recent glaciation.

We started from our camp at about 6 a.m., giving our
yak men orders to take the baggage and tents to a particu-
lar camping ground, which they said they all knew well,
where was a good stream of water — a march of about
fifteen miles. Smyth and I separated with our shikaris
to hunt the ground, hoping to find nyang or burrhel, each
taking a different direction and agreeing to make a circuit,
finishing at our camp. Kunkoo, and a man to lead my
pony and carry lunch and second rifle, came with me.
We tramped all day for miles, seeing several herds, and
shooting one burrhel and missing several others.* As-
cending ridges and going down into wide open valleys
and crossing the dry beds of rivers, towards evening we
came into the true ravine country, and our labours com-

* I ascertained afterwards that the barrels of my rifle, from being
seldom emptied at night or cleaned, were leaded. This and the
difficulty of judging distances lost me several fine heads. The
difficulty with muzzle-loading rifles was not being able to discharge
the barrels for fear of disturbing game near our camps. When barrels
become leaded and foul they shoot most inaccurately. The high
elevation and dry climate of Tibet also have the effect of making the
bullet shoot high, which must be taken into account. I learnt these
lessons by sad experience.

NO MAN'S LAND 155

menced. We crossed hundreds of nullahs, all exactly
alike and leading in the wrong direction. They got deeper
and steeper, and we were tired out. Kunkoo decided
that we must follow down a principal ravine, which seemed
to have a sort of a path along its dry bed. It became
dark, and we tramped on and on ; many side nullahs
of equal size and importance kept joining into our nullah
and making it deeper and bigger, but there was not a sign
of water or of camp. Luckily a lovely full moon rose
majestically into the deep blue-black sk}^ The silence
was oppressive, except for the clank of the ponies' feet,
which echoed against the walls and buttresses which
hemmed us in — huge high walls, steep and all sloping at
an equal angle. The shadows were quite black and the
moonlight dazzling white. The thinness of the atmo-
sphere probably caused the shadows to appear darker
and their edges more sharply defined. The effect was
quite weird, and comparable to what might be experienced
on the moon. Kunkoo was fairly puzzled, and was
several times inclined to turn back and try up some of
the converging nullahs ; but what chance was there of
hitting on the right one among hundreds all exactly alike ?
We fired off guns at intervals to attract attention, and
the sound, exaggerated by the stillness, echoed Uke whole
batteries of artillery, reverberating from bank to bank
with thunder oft repeated, and dying away in unknown
recesses. Still we went on, on, tired out, hungry, and
not knowing which way to turn. Occasionally faint
sounds as of voices seemed to vibrate in the air, but we
could not decide if they were real or imaginary. Still
they seemed to be repeated, and our hopes revived, to be
again blasted by the mocking silence.

At last there seemed to be strains of music somewhere,
but whether above or below or in what direction it was

156 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

impossible to tell. We shouted in reply, and soon heard
voices of men talking ; the words were almost distin-
guishable, but, strange to say, the sound came sometimes
from one side and sometimes from the other, like the
voice of a ventriloquist, and the echoes, repeating the
sound, gave a musical effect like the notes of an organ.
The voices came nearer and nearer, and at last our men
appeared with torches, coming down a side ravine, where
we least expected, in search of us, and we got to camp
about 10 p.m. Dinner ready and a good fire made up
for everything. Smyth, however, had not turned up. I
fired shots and sent the men out again in different direc-
tions, and they found him some miles down the stream,
which only broke out of the ground in small trickles here
and there. He had got two burrhel, but had given up
all hopes of finding camp, and had gone to sleep in a shel-
tered nook. His shikari had heard the shots and answered.
The walls of the ravines were here 300 or 400 feet high.
Their width was only about 300 yards at the top and 50 at
the bottom, which was fiat and easily traversed. A more
extraordinary and puzzling country I have never come
across. There was a sharp frost at night, but the sides
of the ravines retained so much of the sun's heat that it
did not get really cold till near morning.

Next day we had much climbing to find our way out
of the ravines ; but the Bhotias recovered the lost route,
which led southward and upwards into the heart of the
snowy range which lay across our path.

There are two routes from here and three ranges to
cross. One route of three days, at very trying eleva-
tions ; the other way is a longer route, but the passes
can be done in separate marches. This was the route
we selected, and we marched for the Balch Dhura
ghat, a high pass, 17,600 feet, which we ascended, and

NO MAN'S LAND 157

came down into a deep valley called Laptel. Here we
halted and hunted the neighbourhood. There was
plenty of luxuriant grass for our beasts, and we hoped to
find Ovis Ammon, as the ground was covered with their
tracks and the valley is not occupied by either Bhotias
or Hunias ; for the danger of being snowed up in it is great,
when flocks and herds would all perish. We saw no ram
Ovis Ammon, but large herds of females. We shot one
fine old ewe with a lamb, and tried very hard to catch the
lamb, which would not leave the place. Smyth was
anxious to procure a live specimen to send to the Zoologi-
cal Society along with the yaks which he was sending, but
for want of a net we found it impossible. The head of
the female (which I have got) is a fine one, with graceful
thin horns curving backwards.

The bottom of the valley where we camped is only
14,000 feet, and the climate is far less rainy than on the
Himalayan side. Vegetables would grow here, and we
saw wild leeks and vetches and rhubarb, and had a
rhubarb pie, the first vegetable stuff we had eaten for a
month.

Were it not that Laptel is a regular trap, this valley
is a fine grazing ground for sheep and cattle. There was
a herd here of kiang, which cardered about our camp in
a most objectionable way, making the most fearful dis-
turbances. We witnessed a battle royal between two
stallions, which for ferocity and wicked fury surpassed
any fight I have seen. Again and again the pair went
at one another like tigers, biting and kicking and mauling,
the blood flowing freely, while the fearful yells and roars
they kept up were terrifying to hear. This went on for
hours. Sometimes they would wrestle, locked together
like prize-fighters ; sometimes they would chase one
another all round the valley, bounding across chasms

158 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and rocks at a frantic gallop. On one occasion the pur-
sued, who wanted a little rest, took to the steepest rocky
precipices and distanced his pursuer, following the sheep
paths on the face of the hill. The enemy kept pressing
after him till eventually he could not go forward or turn
backward to meet his pursuer. I watched him with the
glasses, and saw the brute deliberately jump from the
point of a jutting rock and go down into the abyss below.
The precipice looked to be a sheer drop with rocks below,
where was a stream hid from view. Into this he disap-
peared, and the other stood looking down, but failed to
follow. Not an hour afterwards they were at it again in
another place, screeching and hammering one another
with renewed fury. I shot one of these brutes to preserve
the peace, and his skull now hangs on my walls among the
other trophies. The one I chose to make an example of
was the bigger bully who funked the precipice. The
lesser one had shown such pluck in coming to the scratch
so often, and making the most appalling jump any horse
ever made and survived, that he deserved to be forgiven
for his otherwise disorderly behaviour. Henceforth he
no doubt became lord of that valley, and was treated with
proper respect both by the younger stallions and the mares
of the herd.

The horrible roars and shrieking made by the wild horse
when fighting sound something like a noise between a
donkey's bray and the squealing of a jackal, but far more
ear-piercing and discordant. The kiang is found in con-
siderable numbers. He is, according to the Hunia
accounts, untamable. There was a young one purchased
at Bagesar fair from some Hunias for a small price.
The purchaser thought he had a good bargain, and pro-
posed to send the animal to England ; but when his men
went to bring away the purchase no power would induce

NO MAN'S LAND 159

it to leave its foster-mother, an old Tibet pony, which the
clever Hunias refused to sell except for an exorbitant
sum.

At Laptel we said good-bye to the kiang and the nyang
and other wild inhabitants of Tibet, and had a long and
trying march to Topidunga in the deep valley of the
Kyungar river. The geology of these parts is most re-
markable. The great chasm through which the water
from Tibet flows cuts down the great central body of the
range right from top to bottom. The very bowels of
the earth are laid bare to the eye, and one sees the strata
of rocks, which were deposited in the bottom of the sea
like beds of sand or mud or calcareous deposits of sea-
shells, stuck up on end instead of lying fiat as the sea left
them. Some of them are composed entirely of sea-shells,
conspicuous among which are the ammonites, which we
observed in heaps lying on the surface, being solid lime-
stone casts of delicate nautilus-like shells, which in life
were the abode of primeval molluscs. They were of all
sizes up to great cart-wheels of 4 feet across, convoluted
in beautiful proportion like a flattened out snail-sheU or
the horns of the Ovis Ammon, which derives its name from
the cornu Ammonis of ancient mythology. There were
visible from the summit of this pass, on the face of the
cliff, a variety of rock formations of various colours,
ranged like books in a shelf. Such sections of the crust
of the earth, by which its layers and beds are cut into
and exposed to view, are common enough in all mountain
ranges ; but for grandeur nothing I have seen elsewhere
can compare with these gaps cut down into the heart of
the earth right through the Himalayan range. It must
be remembered that, while the top of the pass is about
18,000 feet, the stream emerges from its desperate passage
through the gap at a place on the Dhauli river not

l6o THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

fifteen miles away at Malari — only 10,290 feet on the
map.

From this pass one gets glimpses of the great Trisul
group. Some of the summits were so steep that no snow
could lie on the northern side, but the rock cliffs appeared
white even against the snow, as if of pure white marble ;
while others were of black basalt, towering like huge
black giants against the white world of perpetual snow.
The descent to a place called Topidunga, in a deep valley,
was the most appalling attempt, apparently down an over-
hanging precipice. Our guides informed us there was no
other route, and down we must go. Feeling desperate,
we craned our necks over the edge, seeing the track dis-
appear below us and plunge over the edge into space.
However, we descended one by one, the ponies and yaks
following behind. This was a most dangerous proceed-
ing, as every stone detached would bound down the preci-
pice, accumulating force as it sped. We had to let the
beasts remain until we were past the most perpendicular
descent, when they followed as best they could. It was
a breakneck march, and how the poor beasts got down
safely without rolling head over heels to the bottom is a
marvel which is quite unintelligible, as the rock was loose
shingle and rotten, and the stones to which one had to
cling were themselves only sticking to their places by a
miracle, and were balanced so lightly that a kick would
overthrow them, to set others falling and start a general
landslip. However, we got down the three hours' descent
safely till we came to a narrow gorge between lofty
precipices, with a roaring torrent many hundred feet
below, which could be heard but not seen. Luckily
there was a mass of snow jammed between the rocks,
which formed a bridge or viaduct, on the top of which we
traversed, the path emerging, after many turns, in the

NO MAN'S LAND i6l

valley below, where was some space among the rocks to
camp on, and some roots of bushes for firewood. The poor
ponies sank in the snow and had to be helped to get
across. The men certainly showed great mountaineering
qualities, and worked splendidly with ropes, and by
carrying the loads they got everything down to camp.

The change from the almost rainless climate of Tibet
to a damp atmosphere, with clouds and dropping rain,
showed that we were now south of the main range ; and
our camp was both cold and uncomfortable. We had
still, however, a third high ghat, said to be over 18,000
feet, to surmount before leaving this ' no man's land,' and
descending into the British pargana of Juhar and the
Bhotia town of Milam. The path is called the Unta
Dhura, and is not the same as the Milam ghat, which
is the more frequented trade route. We met a large party
of Hunia traders with about 2,000 sheep and goats lower
down, who had come across by the other pass. They
had been nearly thirty hours doing the passage, as they
are afraid to camp on the trip for fear of being snowed up.
Many pack-sheep and travellers have been lost on this
pass, and the carcases of the poor dead sheep are seen in
melting snow-drifts with the flesh still on the bones.
The sheep were fine strong ones, with the long straight-
out horns, mostly shaped like the Ovis Poli. They carry
packs of salt and borax weighing twenty to twenty-four
pounds each. They looked very weary and footsore.
The men had big sheepskin coats, and were prepared for
bad weather. They cannot count more than a score, and
do not know how many sheep they possess ; but they
know if they miss any.

We were now so inured to high elevations that we did
not feel any ill effects during the passage of these ghats,
not even the usual headache ; and we tramped mostly on

II

i62 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

foot, the ground being too steep to ride on ponies. In
descending the Unta Dhura to Milam the path follows
down the surface of a very extensive glacier. We found
the going very slippery, but not too steep. Its surface
was cut up into vertical furrows by a number of streams,
which were caused by the warm wind of the south-west
monsoon coming up from the fervid plains of India, still
blowing as hard as ever. The great mass of ice, half a
mile in width and many hundred feet thick, looked black
and clear under our feet, always creeping downwards
and forcing its way between great granite precipices
which hemmed it in, and then bulging out into a wider
sea of ice like a slow-flowing river. The walls of rock were
polished bright, and scored with lines engraved in the solid
granite during the course of ages.

Next morning we got to Milam for breakfast, and
found the villagers had pitched some tents ready for us,
and now offered us a welcome and every comfort. Milam
is one of the largest of the Bhotia villages, being the capital
of Juhar, and has a considerable area of cultivation, as
the valley is wide. But its source of wealth is from trade
between Tibet and India, and the people possess great
flocks of goats, jhobus, and ponies. The elevation is
11,682 feet, and oats and barley grow well. The village
looks like a waUed town ; it is built of stone, and the backs
of the houses, being all turned outwards, form a high wall
with no windows. The people sit on balconies and flats
facing inwards, engaged in their household work, and
look happy and comfortable. Their dress is superior
to the usual run of Bhotias ; the principal men look
quite like gentlemen, and wear white, finely-woven serge
garments ; they are very clean and their manners are
excellent. The women are often good-looking, and
their long black hair is tastily plaited. The children are

NO MAN'S LAND 163

bright, intelligent, and clean, and attend school very
diligently.

Smyth inspected the schools and was well pleased. We
also interviewed some pundits who were preparing to start
for survey work in Tibet under Government authority.
Smyth had selected these young men, and sent them to
the Engineering College at Roorkee to be trained by the
instructions of Colonel Montgomerie, R.E. They were
waiting for one of their chronometers, which had gone
wrong and had been sent to Roorkee to be regulated.
They started shortly after on their eventful journey, and
one only succeeded in getting to Lhasa, which city he
surveyed surreptitiously ; and had many adventures
during several years' travelling, as duly recorded by the
Geographical Society.

There are many villages further down the valley, which
is extensive. The celebrated Milam glacier is situated up
the main valley above Milam. A great river issues from
its base, coming out from under a cavern in the ice, which
is some 400 feet thick. This cavern is vast and fearful
to look at. The glacier breaks off as it melts in great
blocks, which fall at intervals on to the flat 400 feet below.
The crash of these falling icebergs is appalling when
heard at night. The long space of flat open valley below
the cavern shows that the glacier has been receding. If
it were to advance it would sweep away Milam and all its
inhabitants. One cannot go too near the cavern.

The Milam glacier derives its source from the great ice-
fields which fill up the entire valley lying between the
snowy peaks of Nanda Devi, Trisul, and Dunagiri. These
summits tower up to the skies to the west and south. At
this season they are concealed by the vapour, but occa-
sionally there was a break in the clouds, when these giants
could be seen. There were on the glacier surface lakes

II — 2

I64 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

of clear water over ten acres in area, with islands in
them. There were rivers flowing into the lakes. The
surface was a plain, and widened out at the head to several
miles. When clouds concealed the heights it was like
travelling on an icy sea. As far as the eye could reach on
all sides, the flat surface of the ice. This mass is always
travelling forward. There are no cracks or crevasses
to be encountered for miles as we advance further across
this veritable mer de glace ; but it begins to rise as one
gets nearer to the source, and the surface to become
rougher. The usual curious features of moraine lines,
and of rocks supported like tables on pillars of unmelted
ice, were very marked ; and there could be no better
place for experimenting on the movements of ice and
observing its extraordinary behaviour.* That the centre
of the glacier and the top, as in a river, flow faster than
the sides and bottom, has frequently been observed. In
one solid block it will conform itself to the winding course
of the valley it fills up. This is very marked in the Milam
glacier, which makes a great curve to the south as seen
from above, after coming for miles in a north-easterly
direction. It is joined also by other glaciers from the
various peaks, which unite into one great ice-lake.

The great writer Lyall, who thought out many pro-
blems, comes, I think, to the conclusion that the eleva-
tion of a great mass of mountain like the Himalayan
range, composed of strata which, though now found miles
above the sea, were once formed perhaps as deep below
its surface, was a gradual and quiet process, and that such
movements of elevation or depression are going on under
our feet steadily, though unperceived. It is, however,

* Sir Richard Strachey, R.E., in 1848 measured the movement of
the Milam glacier, which he describes as ten miles long, 4,000 feet
across, and as moving downwards at the rate, near its centre, of 44 feet
in thirty-two days.

NO MAN'S LAND 165

hard to believe that the setting on end and crumpHng up
of the sohd rock, which one sees, as it were, shot up and
banged about and fractured and twisted in every con-
ceivable mode, could have happened always in a quiet,
leisurely way, and without some fearful convulsions, com-
pared to which our modem earthquakes are mere faint
vibrations.

This Tibetan region, with its high plateau, the roof of
Asia, and its great rivers and deep valleys, all centring
in one highest point ; its old-world inhabitants and its
forbidden thresholds, has a fascination peculiar to itself.
There is a strange fatality against the thorough explora-
tion of the sacred city, where reigns in unbroken seclusion
the Dalai Lama, the boy incarnate Buddha ; and even the
most determined explorers have failed to get to Lhasa.

The regions to the north and the great central lakes,
which have no outlet to the sea and are being absorbed
gradually by the sand of the great desert of Gobi, have
been explored recently by Dr. Sven Hedin, Captain
Wellby, and others, but they have all failed to get to
Lhasa. The most recent explorers (1899), Mr. and Mrs.
Rijnhart, from Kuku Nor, were stopped at the river
Tachu ; and a sad tragedy has been enacted, the lady
returning alone, uncertain as to her husband's fate. Yet
in 1774 an Englishman — Mr. Bogle — sent by Warren
Hastings, was received by the Teshu Lama at Shigatze
in the most friendly manner, and established a prosperous
commercial intercourse with India. In 181 1 Mr. Manning
visited the Dalai Lama at Lhasa, and found him a most
peaceable and holy youth, and well disposed towards the
British.*

The natives of Tibet are quiet, good sort of fellows ;

* The account of Dr. Sven Hedin's most recent approach to Lhasa
has still to be driven to the world.

166 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

but their Government, since the two invasions by the
Sikhs and Nepahs, has had a fixed prejudice against any
travellers getting too far into their country, fearing that
they may be invaded and annexed ; but their principal
fear is that their sacred places may be desecrated. The
attempt lately made by Mr. H. Savage Landor to force his
way to Lhasa, accompanied by two Kumaon coolies who
did not understand the Hunia language, after quarrelling
with his Bhotia couriers, and having no yaks or even ponies
to carry him or his baggage, was bound to end in a fiasco.

Certainly, when we had once come to agreement with
the Zung-pun, we found the Tibet people most polite and
peaceable. It is true that Mr. Robert Drummond's
visit in i860 to the Manasarowar lake, and putting a boat
on it, had given great offence. The Lamas have great
power, and dread that their most sacred temples may be
desecrated by heathen dogs of Englishmen, who go every-
where ; and they naturally raise every obstacle to their
entering from the British frontier.

The success of Mr. Bogle was the result of the policy
of Warren Hastings of encouraging trade with India ;
since then our Government has discouraged all inter-
course with the Tibetans ; and fairs, where trading used
to be carried on, have ceased to take place.

The Bhotias who live in British territory and under
British laws are aware that the British do not intend to
interfere with their trading rights. They are excellent
subjects of the Empire, and all the trade between the two
countries is in their hands. With us they felt perfectly
safe, and proved themselves faithful and plucky assistants,
and were our friends ; but they expected to be treated
rather as allies than as servants, as all men beyond the
British frontier are equal.

Our carriers, not being themselves armed, seemed to

NO MAN'S LAND 167

have great satisfaction in the number of our guns and
rifles, and the superiority of their shooting over the old
matchlocks of the natives ; and our shikaris felt extra
brave when carrying our second rifles, and all behaved
splendidly. The present of some gunpowder and lead
made them supremely happy, and it was ati revoir at
parting rather than good-bye.

Among the Bhotias the custom of polyandry, which
some book-writers have described, does not obtrude itself
at all on the observation of travellers. In fact, the families
of the Bhotias seem to have a fair proportion of women
to men, and have husbands and marriage customs like
any other people, and the little girls playing about the
houses seem to be just as numerous as the boys. They
are not at all shy, and are very bright and intelligent,
and apparently nearly as well taught in the Government
schools as European children. The women are very hard-
working in household duties and in making their often
highly ornamented costumes. Both men and women are
always busy spinning woollen yam, and the cloth they
weave is excellent and durable. The account given by
Mr. Savage Landor of these people, whom he names
' Shokas,' does not at all agree with my observations.

CHAPTER XIV

SUBALPINE REGIONS : HEAT, RAIN, AND DRIPPING
JUNGLES

Having parted with our Bhotia shikaris and faithful
yak-drivers, who were excellent intelligent fellows and
wonderful mountaineers, the time had come for recom-
mencing the survey work. My pleasant companion also
had schools to inspect in the Dharma valley. Therefore,
with mutual regrets, we had to part, each on his separate
route. My path lay down, down perpetually into the
steamy hot and reeking climate of the lower hills, still
immersed in cloud and rain, the final burst of the monsoon.

I commenced my march south-westward to the Pindar
valley, where the Commissioners' instructions to report
on and survey the extensive area of forests there existing
must be carried out.

To reach the Pindar it was necessary, for a few marches,
to' descend the defile of the Gori river, blocked up by
vast beds of snow, and quite impassable lower down, and
to cross westward by the Gula Dhura over a series of
ranges which spring from the great mountain mass of
Nanda Devi and its fellow peaks, crossing also the valleys
of the Ram Ganga and Sarju rivers where they first issue
from the snow. This was an arduous and trying march.
I was, however, joined by the native surveying staff,
who had not come into Tibet ; and where native officials
march the arrangements generally go smoothly, as they

SUBALPINE REGIONS 169

take good care of their own comfort, and the villagers are
more ready to provide coolies and supplies. Very few
British had ever been in the villages lying in these un-
frequented valleys.

It rained all day and all night, the tent getting so wet
and heavy that it was hard to carry, and, except occa-
sionally, was not pitched at all. We either slept in caves
or in native sheds made of bamboo chappars, not too
clean, where insects of all sorts were abundant, from
fleas to scorpions and centipedes. Mosquitoes were as
large and voracious as hawks, and moras kept biting day
and night. Then there are snakes abundant of all sorts,
and leeches swarm on every stone, and stick to the feet
and ankles of passers-by. The poor goats and cattle are
infested by them, and run down blood. They get into
dogs' noses and stay there, and cannot be got out. For
twenty days our clothes were never dry, or if we did get
a chance to dry them in some gleams of sun, they were
wet again in an hour or two. We gave up trying to keep
dry, and slept in wet things unconcernedly. The sheepskin
coat made a useful night coat when one slept in caves, as it
kept out most things and was better than damp bedding.

The heat was intense in the valleys, and the air heavy
and muggy. We regretted the climate and cool air of
Tibet. We had often long distances to march over high
passes where it was cooler, but most of the paths were
mere goat tracks through dripping wet underwood and tall
spear -grass. Spear -grass is specially constructed to
annoy. Every stalk is stiff and pointed, and runs straight
in through woollen clothes, penetrating to the skin. The
points are as sharp as needles, and are provided at the
end with detachable barbed heads, which stick an eighth
of an inch into the flesh and cannot be taken out, and
cause great pain and irritation, and produce festering.

I70 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Sheep suffer terribly from spear-grass ; and for that reason
the natives here keep mostly goats, which do not suffer
so much, their coats being finer and more open. It is
quite common to find in mutton whole joints of spear-
grass which have gone right through the animal's flesh.
I wore long leather boots above the knee, or else extra
thick puttees. They would keep out spear-grass for a
time, but not altogether, and half one's time in camp
was occupied in taking spear-grass out of one's clothes.
The flies, however, were the worst pest of all. They were
in millions, buzzing in a distracting manner and settling
on one's face, and where they settled for a moment they
began to bite. From morning till night it was one per-
petual fight to keep the flies out of one's eyes, nose, and
mouth, and out of one's tea or eatables ; and when, after
a very tiring march, one felt inclined to sleep a bit longer
in the morning, they took good care to begin buzzing
in the most maddening manner from 5 a.m. all about one's
head, and settling on one's poor body wherever uncovered.
We often marched late, as there was no object in starting
very early, the sun being always behind clouds and rain
coming down in dreary downpour.

The sound of dropping water was everywhere, and
every hollow contained a rushing, roaring torrent. Land-
slips were not infrequent, and the paths were slippery
and muddy, and the fords very dangerous. Then the
thunder and lightning were appalling ; scarcely a day passed
without a thunderstorm, and sometimes it thundered
and poured steadily for the whole twenty-four hours.
We saw little of the scenery, as the mists and clouds
filled the valleys, and we tramped all day along paths
which followed the ridges, the luxuriant growth of weeds
and ferns and bushes being higher than our heads. We
had guides from village to village who knew the route.

SUBALPINE REGIONS 171

There was, however, a distinctly marked path where the
sheep and goat caravans sometimes came in the cold
weather, and the caves were blackened with the smoke
of their camp fires. There was a kind of balsam —
Balsamia impatiens — which grew about these camps
and level places where the sheep halted. It was 7 or
8 feet high and concealed everything, and the path
was quite grown over. The seeds appear like good-
sized grain. When the pods are touched they fly open
(hence the name impatiens). The natives eat the seeds
sometimes, and they have an intoxicating effect. These
patches are a favourite haunt of bears, and they also
become shockingly intoxicated, and lose their accustomed
caution, which usually makes them conceal themselves
on the approach of men. In groping one's way through
these fields of high balsam it was necessary to go with
observation. On one occasion the khansamah Sirdar Khan,
a plains Mussulman, who had an instinctive dread of all
wild animals and of everything in the hills, was mooning
along through the balsam, having got on a wrong track,
he himself being a bit under the influence of bhang (wild
hemp) smoked in excess. Suddenly he found himself
nearly in the arms of a huge black bear. Bruin, however,
was quite half seas over and too far gone to hurt anything,
and the khansamah escaped only scared.

In one day's march I had six shots at bears and bagged
four. The others rolled themselves into the long herbage,
and disappeared head over heels down the khud and were
lost. The skins of these bears were not much good, as
they were changing their coats and very ragged.* There

* The big black bear of the Himalayas is wrongly called Ursus
Tibetanus^ as it frequents the Indian side of the hills. It is called by
the natives 'balu,' or 'reetch.' Its thigh-bones are like man's, and it
can stand upright. The hair is very black and shiny, and it has the
white horseshoe mark on the chest.

172 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

is nothing so human-looking as a bear after his skin is off.
Having no tail, and hands with wide palms and arms like
a muscular athlete's, not so disproportionately long as an
ape's, he might almost be mistaken for a Herculean man.
His feet also are ridiculously like a man's feet and leave
quite a human impression. His legs are certainly short
and bowed, but so are some strong men's. He is not
quadrumanous like a monkey, but more nearly a biped
with hands. His head certainly is not human in shape,
but, when the skin is off, the skull is not so unlike that of
a low-caste African's. His ears are similarly placed and
his neck is equally muscular.

They build nests in trees, of which I have come across
a good many, principally in tall oak-trees, like bowers
made of evergreen boughs, and arched overhead to keep
off the sun. They sit in them in the warm weather, a
very sensible arrangement for getting the air. I have
seen bears digging for ants and taking honey, and they
use their forepaws and long nails just as a savage man
might use his hands. Their food is mostly vegetable, as
is that of the human race, though they also eat flesh when
they are very hungry, and do not refuse the carcases of
dead beasts which they may find ; but they seldom kill
anything larger than bees and ants. It seems rather a
shame to shoot so well-disposed a beast, but they do an
immense amount of damage to crops, and Government
gives a reward varying from two rupees to five rupees for
their heads. They are not admired much by the owners
of cattle, as a calf is said to be sometimes carried off
by a hara halu which has come on it from the thick
jungle. One night, when encamped under a spreading
mango-tree in which was a wild bees' nest, I was awakened
by the shaking of the boughs over my tent, and went
out in night attire to see what it could be. As I kept

SUBALPINE REGIONS 173

pointing the rifle up to the bees' nest, and waited to hear
the sound or catch sight of the great black object where
I guessed a bear would be, I suddenly heard close behind
me a sniffing sound, just at my rear, and felt the hot
breath of a huge bear as I swung round the rifle pretty
sharply and let drive. There was no bear there after that,
but next morning there were some very large bear tracks
on the path, and the bees were in a state of immense
excitement, and half their nest gone. There were big
claw-marks on the tree-stem, but Bruin had not com-
pleted his robbery of the honey, but had scuttled off
down the khud in the dark night.

The female bear sometimes suckles her young in a sitting
position, like a biped, and her correction of her infants
by giving them a sound box on the ear when they are
disobedient, and scolding them in an angry, loud manner,
is splendidly like the method of some impatient mothers.
The young bears, of which there may be two or three,
cry just Hke infants when corrected, and squabble and
play together in a very human manner. I had several
young bears at different times, which had been caught by
natives by putting blankets over them, and brought to the
cutcherry for the reward. They soon became tame and
were very amusing, but were always ready to use their
sharp nails in self-defence. If threatened with a stick,
they would invariably put their backs against a wall or
tree, and stand up like a pugnacious boy and box with
their hands open, striking inwards at a furious rate.
Nothing can resist the scooping, clawing stroke of a bear's
heavy and powerful arms, delivered alternately on the
object of his attack. A bear does not hug, as popularly
supposed, but when he stands up whatever comes between
his claws is literally made mincemeat of. There were
many poor wretched natives in these high-up villages

174 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

where bears were common, who had had the entire flesh
of their scalps, heads, or faces torn away from the skull,
and were the most ghastly objects to look at — those few,
that is, who survived a bear's mauling. I cannot con-
ceive a more frightful fate than to get into such clutches.
Having been asked to prescribe for one or two cases, I
could do very little to alleviate such suffering ; but the
sight inspired me with a proper dread of getting to too
close quarters with Bruin. He is said to be a harmless
vegetable-eater, and not to be difficult to shoot, and some
sportsmen who tell very big tiger stories affect to despise
bear shooting as not worth much ; but I should myself
always treat a bear with the greatest respect, go for him
well armed, and shoot him as early as I got the chance,
if possible in the white horseshoe mark in his chest, which
is the surest place to get at his heart.

Bears seem to be nocturnal animals and rather short-
sighted by dayhght. On one occasion I came on two
large bears grubbing for acorns on the side of a ravine.
They went on with their occupation, not seeing me, though
I attempted no concealment. I fired at one at about lOO
yards, and hit him in the muscle of the forearm. Im-
mediately he felt the bullet he turned, with an awful
yell of pain and rage, on the other bear, which was inno-
cently following him, and gave him a tremendous hiding,
the two roaring and rolling down the ravine together,
luckily not in my direction. A female bear with cubs
is by no means very safe to approach. She will perform
great feats of valour in defence of her cubs.

The hill bear is a more dangerous animal than that of
the plains, and fears man less, and will go for a man if he
can't get clear away. I have hunted the grizzly bear
in the Rocky Mountains, but much the biggest and
heaviest bear I have come across was a Himalayan bear.

SUBALPINE REGIONS 175

He was shot near Pauri in Garhwal. We were three
guns, and were posted at the bottom of a deep ravine
filled with dense thorny scrub. The villagers commenced
to beat from above, with tom-toms and horns, and threw
down rocks till the bear, which had been damaging their
crops, came out with furious grunts down the bed of the
stream. We fired eleven bullets into him as he rushed
along, but he seemed little the worse until he got one in
his head at about two yards' range. The twelve bullets
were cut out of him when he was skinned, but most of
them had slipped round under the skin in the thick layer
of fat which covered his great body, and had not at all
penetrated his vitals. It took four men to carry away
his skin, tied to a pole with the fat sticking to it. He
must have weighed about ten hundredweight, and was a
very old male. Most bears one meets are, however, only
half the size of this one.

To return to our march. I had to cross rather a steep
pass over one of the southern spurs of Nanda Devi. The
tramp had been a long and tedious one, ascending through
thick jungle all day. Near the summit there was a forest
of old and weather-beaten pines, some white and hoary
with age, their dead stems pointing to the sky. There
had been breaks in the rain, and the sun had shone at
intervals, and the air was close and oppressive. Immense
black clouds hung and rolled up towards the snow peaks,
and thunder pealed in the distance with ominous sound.

We hurried to get over the ghat before the storm broke.
The villagers who carried the loads struggled on manfully.
We crossed none too soon, for flashes of hghtning became
more frequent, and night was fast approaching. A
deafening peal of thunder, simultaneous with a flash
which seemed to pervade the air and bhnd and dazzle
one's eyes, was followed by the crash of a falling dead

176 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

tree almost over the path. Two of the cooHes fell to
the earth and groaned with terror. Nearly every tree
near the top bore marks of lightning, being scored and
barked from top to bottom. We instinctively hastened
forward and down the steep descent, though all were dead-
beat, and some left their loads and fled. Luckily there
was a village some two miles from the summit called
Migla, where our march ended ; and the time taken to get
there was a record one. The villagers had a great dread
of that pass, and we were lucky to get all safe across.
It seemed to be a favourite point for attracting the electric
fluid, and to camp there would have been most imprudent.
There are often high places which seem to be regular
lightning conductors ; and it is important before choosing
the site for a house in the hills to study carefully the course
of the thunderstorms and consult the natives, who know
the bad spots, and generally have some rude temple or
heap of stones erected to ward off the evil influence of
the fairies or devtas which are the spirits of the mountains.
Thunderstorms often are seen and heard down in the
depths of the valleys far below the level of the observer,
but luckily these are not so dangerous as those which occur
on the higher points. Thus, in the village below this
summit the inhabitants had never heard of anyone being
struck or any damage done by lightning ; but on the pass
many had been killed, and cattle were not driven to the
jungle adjoining. We came to camp in a fairly open
valley, where were broad fields of Indian corn in terraces
all along the sides of the hills, the projecting spurs, which
had comparatively level tops, being all cleared and ter-
raced and cultivated. This was a large village of very
industrious poor people, and not a yard of ground which
could be reclaimed and terraced had been overlooked.
Their houses, all of stone, were clustered together, and the

SUBALPINE REGIONS 177

lights could be seen, when evening closed, twinkling in
numbers. The tents were pitched in a terraced field, and
the natives gave us every assistance and supplies of flour,
rice, ghee, milk, and firewood.

The headman informed me of their great troubles.
The Indian-corn crops, which they took such trouble to
sow and cultivate, were eaten up every year by the bears.
Farmers always have some good reason why agriculture
is a hopeless failure. The fields I had passed seemed to
be most flourishing, the great stems of the corn, an inch
or more thick, standing closely together and weighed
down with heavy corn cobs. I had, however, observed
that in nearly every field there was a machan or hut of
some sort overlooking the terraces adjoining, and fires
of logs were burning before the huts. These were for
the watchers at night, who tried to keep the bears off their
own fields by throwing burning logs at them and hunting
them into their neighbours' fields, where they might
graze in peace till the neighbour awoke and began the
driving process. Bruin, though he got moved on pretty
often, managed to take good toll out of most fields.
These fields were not large, only patches of cultivation
reclaimed from the jungle, with terraces supported by
rough walls, exactly like those on the Riviera where the
olives grow.

The night was dark and a steady rain falling. Pre-
sently a breathless voice at the tent door said 'Sahib,
sahib, reetch ai gia P (' The bears have come '). Seizing
a couple of double rifles which were tied to the tent-pole,
I handed one to the villager, who with a companion stood
pointing towards the terrace next below. There was a
crescent moon overhead and light clouds drifting across
its face. There was just light enough to distinguish the
shape of the terrace we stood upon, and the outhne of

12

178 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

dark tree-clad hills against the sky. Moving on about
fifty yards, the leading villager, who was the owner of
the lower terraces now covered with the tall stalks of
Indian corn, stopped and pointed. I counted five black
objects in the corn, and could hear them gathering the
com cobs and crunching the grain. There was no doubt
they were five black bears at their evening meal, the
nearest not twenty yards from where we stood ; but
it was impossible to see the sights of the rifle, though I
tried several times. Oh, for a glow-worm or a luminous
sight ! But it was no use, I could not make sure of a foot
up or down. I picked up a piece of shiny straw, and
was laying it on the sight of the rifle to attract the eye in
this darkness, when I heard a rushing noise through the
com, and the bear nearest me, no doubt smelling the gun
or a strange scent, came straight on up the path to the
terrace where we stood as fast as he could come. Whether
I should leg it or not was the first question ; but there was
no time to get out of his way, and the flash of the rifle
fired straight at him so blinded my eyes, and probably
his too, that he came on the faster. As he tumbled up the
path on to the terrace where we stood, I poked the rifle
into the black mass and fired again. My friend the vil-
lager behaved like a brick and did not run ; but before he
could hand me the other rifle the bear, blinded again by
the bright flash, was on top of us in a moment, and knocked
down the man, getting past me I could not tell how,
for it was all over in a moment, and Bruin rushed on as if
the devil was after him, and disappeared in the darkness.
The only mark he left of his charge was a single claw
mark, which took a piece out of my brave gentleman's
nose. He took it very coolly, and got up laughing at the
joke, and chaffing me for not stopping the bear. I had
previously told him that I could not undertake to shoot in

SUBALPINE REGIONS 179

the dark, as I could not see the sights of the rifle, and that
I would only shoot them by daylight. The other bears
had all rushed simultaneously, luckily in different direc-
tions ; and next morning, as it rained all night, we could
find no tracks of them. There was a great extent of
very thick jungle all round, where bears could be hidden
all day, not to speak of caves in the hillsides not easy
to find ; and, as I had no time to spend, I had to leave
those bears unshot. Luminous sights for night use
would be extremely useful.

Bears were very numerous from i860 to 1870 in
Kumaon, and on one occasion, when I went to Bagesar
fair to buy ponies and yaks' tails and Tibet curios in the
winter, I saw 400 black bear skins laid out on the ground
round the Deputy Commissioner's cutcherry, for which
he had paid the Government reward of four rupees each.
I carried away many of those skins to make sledges for
dragging away the earth on the Juli road works.

The survey of the Pindar river valley, from the glacier
down to the junction with the Alaknanda, occupied some
time. The river, fed by the Pindari glacier, which
emerges from the vast snow-fields between Nanda Devi
and Nanda Kot, is at this season of the year, when the
snow is melting and the rains still coming down in torrents,
a great swollen flood, sweeping onward at first between
lofty snow-capped crags in a white and turbid stream.
The valley opens out lower down, and in places there are
cultivated flats near the river. The southern side espe-
cially slopes back from the stream in less precipitous
curves, the hills, covered with timber up to their summits,
forming very extensive forests. These slopes would be
very suitable for sliding timber down with a view to
floating in rafts to the plains, after the methods employed
in Germany and France, in the Black Forest and the Vosges.

12 — 2

l8o THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

This is a business which requires great skill, and know-
ledge of the various methods of timber transport ; but
it would be quite possible to train the hardy villagers
of these mountains to the work. They already are
very good axemen, and every hillman carries an axe,
with which he can quickly fell the largest trees. The
forests being all Government property, there would be no
difficulty in exploiting the timber ; and saw-mills could
be easily constructed at the depots, worked by the side-
streams coming from the lofty hills above.

Let me describe a typical hill forest in this region. First,
starting from the Pindar river, where are villages with fields
of rice and terraces irrigated by water-courses cleverly
led from the side valleys, we ascend past fields of Indian
corn nearly ripe, and clumps of great-leaved plantains
laden with fruit. There are lemon-trees and apricots,
figs and wild cherries, and luxuriant mulberries and shady
evergreen mango-trees, some with great stems very old
and twisted. There are several kinds of figs, the sacred
pipal and banian. Higher up, following the villagers'
paths by which they drive their cattle to pasture, we
come to enormous walnut and sycamore trees. The wal-
nuts are collected by the natives and stored in great
quantities. Presently we strike into forests of ever-
green oak of three different kinds, several kinds of acacia,
and many sorts of underwoods, berberis, and wait-a-bit
thorns.

Higher up, at about 8,000 feet elevation, we get into
the real pine forests, which grow best on the less steep
northern slopes where the sun does not glare. They prefer
to live under the shadow of the great mountain, where
the soil is black and deep, and many bulbous and flower-
ing plants, ferns innumerable, and shrubs of the azalea
and magnolia type abound. There are clusters of yew

SUBALPINE REGIONS i8i

and box, and wild vines and all sorts of rare flowers.
The southern slopes have quite a different set of trees
and shrubs, the great scarlet-flowering tree rhododendron
being resplendent.

It is delightful to camp in the cool regions of the pine
forest after the rains, when the climate is splendid. The
tent is pitched by some gurgling stream in a little dell,
where there is a smooth turf for the tent, studded with
scarlet potentillas and innumerable lovely flowers, and
bordered by maidenhair and other feathery ferns, of
which I have counted fifteen kinds in a space of twenty
yards. Clumps of graceful ringals are placed on the
slopes just in the right spots to form a most perfect land-
scape garden, with never an incongruity, such as artificial
ones are ever presenting. The great gray stems of splen-
did pines {Pmus excelsa) stand dark with deep shadows
cast on the verdant sod. There are groves of enormously
tall cypress, straight, and 150 feet high, with sharp-
pointed tops, all of different ages and heights (not uniform
as in plantations), thinned out only by storms and old
age. Then, in the more sheltered northern breast of the
mountain, stretch miles of the lofty raga forest, silver fir-
trees like masts, and 12 feet in girth, towering to the skies
and standing close together ; and there are alternate groups
and stretches of the elegant weeping spruce, dolchella,
even taller and grander stems. There are single trees stand-
ing in the open and at the edges of the forest, absolutely
perfect, with every branch in its place, curved and drooping
to the ground, more picturesquely placed by Nature than
by the most artistic lover of landscape gardening.

The middle ranges of the Himalayas are being exploited
for tea planting. The climate and soil are so varied that
the plants of all countries are represented, and almost
anything will grow if its proper region is found. Among

I82 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

other valuable products the tea -plant was found by
Robert Fortune, who introduced it from China, to thri\'e
excellently at an elevation of from 3,000 to 6,000 feet.
The Government, with the object of encouraging this
industry, established several experimental tea-gardens,
which were proved to be very successful.

Among others, that at Pauri in Garhwal was worked
up to 1861 by Government, and then sold to a private
planter. The industry was encouraged so as to induce
settlers, principally retired officers, to embark in tea-
planting. There were several most thriving plantations
in Kumaon. Sites were selected where the villagers had
not utilized the land, and where jungle could be cleared
away. On the lower ranges south of the Pindar river
there were several fine plantations, at Duara Hat, Duna-
giri, Ranikhet, and other places. Native labour was
easily procured, and the slopes of the hills cleared and
planted, Government giving grants of seed from its
gardens in Assam, mostly China seed. The variety dis-
covered by Fortune in Assam was also tried, and found to
succeed even better and produce a larger crop. The
plant is a small-leaved, white flowering evergreen, a sort
of camellia. The seed is large like a hazel-nut, and ger-
minates rapidly during the rains in seed beds, being fit
to plant out the second year. The plants are then put
into the garden in rows about 5 feet apart, and grow
rapidly, producing tea from the fresh sprouting leaves early
in spring, and again in summer and rains. It was quite
an agreeable surprise to come across a plantation in
the midst of a wild jungle, with its well-tilled slopes inter-
sected by paths leading to the cha godown, where the
leaves were rolled, fired over charcoal, and manufactured.
The planter's house, built of native stone, with its wide
verandahs, was usually placed in a most picturesque

SUBALPINE REGIONS 183

situation, with extensive view of endless forest-clad
ranges and valleys sloping away, and the distant snowy
mountains standing grandly against the northern sky. The
life of the tea-planter, with his family and with constant
occupation, is not a bad one. His home is in the midst
of beautiful scenery, and his opportunities for shikar
are endless. The higher up the plantation stands, the
more highly flavoured is the tea ; but the quantity grown
is much greater in the hotter, low-lying positions. The
low price of tea has much reduced the profit, but at first
it was sufficient to meet the local demand in order to pay
its way. The flavour of Kumaon tea is notoriously
excellent. Its fine perfume is easily distinguished, and
if not made too strong it is quite the best tea that can be
partaken of.

The hospitality of tea-planters was notorious, and was
a pleasant variety in a life in the forests. The deprecia-
tion of silver benefits the tea-planter considerably, as his
labour is paid in rupees and the tea sold for gold.

CHAPTER XV

THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST

Let us wander through the ranges of the middle Hima-
layas, which we may call the semi-tropical zone, where
the chir pine flourishes ever5rwhere at an elevation of
from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. The Pinus longifolia is a tree
peculiar to the Himalayas, and has an extensive range
from Nepal to the western Punjab. More especially
on the southern faces and tops of the numerous ranges,
on the sunniest slopes, these handsome pines, with tall,
straight, red-coloured stems, grow to the greatest size,
and cover hundreds of miles of otherwise bare and grassy
hills. The spines, in clusters, measure 12 to 14 inches long,
and are bright green, huge aigrettes of shiny foliage form-
ing umbrella-like heads, somewhat like those of the
Corsican pine, and bearing similar great knobby fir-cones,
with big seeds.

The Forest Survey shows the area of forests surveyed
in Kumaon to be 433,951 acres, and in British Garhwal
253,472 acres ; total 687,423 statute acres, equal to
1,074 square miles.* The area of chir alone is 152,264

* The areas given in the reports are :

Acres.
Pinus longifolia {c\i\r) ... - 152,264

Pinus excelsa (dolchella) - - - I4,ocxd

Piftus Brunoniana (tungsing) - - - 1,000

Picea Webbiana and Pindrow {xdi^-A) - - 53,820

THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST 185

acres, and the usual number of measurable trees per
acre is about twenty-eight, being seven trees of the
first class, and seven each of the second, third, and
fourth classes per acre, besides seedlings. The first-
class trees are over 8 feet in girth, and some chir-trees
measured 14 feet in girth and 140 in height. The age of
such a tree is computed from the rings to be 260 years,
and a second-class tree of 6 feet girth takes 160 years to
grow to that size. The timber of the chir is like pitch
pine or red pine, beautifully grained, and very strong and
durable under cover. It is full of turpentine. All the
roads which traverse the lower hills (generally bridle-
paths, following the ridges and contours as much as
possible to avoid constant descents and steep ascents)
pass through miles and miles of the familiar chir forest ;
and the recollection of those fiery-hot and almost shade-
less miles over dry and heated soil and rocks is burnt into
the minds of all hill travellers. The ground at certain
seasons, before the grass has been burnt over, is covered
with the spines or leaves shed in the spring season, and
these are so slippery that it is doubly tiring. The heated
air is drawn upward by the sun, and whistles and moans
through the branches, and the glare from the ground is
scarcely modified by the scanty shade from the loose,
feathery tree-tops. No underwood grows, as the annual
fires, fed by the turpentiny leaves, make a clean sweep of
all young vegetation except the grass, which is of a harsh
and slippery sort. No one is likely to forget the chir forest,
with its heat and wearisome monotony. Yet it is beautiful,
and the distant blue ranges through the red stems and the

Acres.
Abies Smithiana (kurchella) - - - 26,908

Cupressus torulosa (sarai) - - - 4'9.38

Cedrus deodara {dtQdia,x) . . - 1,500

i86 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

light-green foliage of the young trees are charming to the
eye. Above the chir comes the dark evergreen oak forest
with rhododendron up to 10,000 feet.* Below the chir
come the tropical jungles of sal and palm and acacias.

The chir timber is extensively used for all building
purposes at Naini Tal and the other hill stations, and
makes capital rafters, beams, and flooring boards for
house building ; but it never fails to twist a bit when
seasoned. The forest extends all along the valleys of the
great rivers Alaknanda, Dhauli, and Sarju, where timber
can be floated down to the plains.

The principal wild animals found in the chir districts
are the gooral,"]* or Himalayan chamois, and leopards,
which are not uncommon, the former living on the very
steep and rocky slopes and precipices, the latter in caves.

The small tent is pitched near where the gooral fre-
quent, in herds of three or four together or singly. They
are found in the very early morning and late in the even-
ing grazing on the slopes. In the day-time they hide
under rocks on the face of the steepest khuds.

Awaking before daylight, we are out on the slopes
below the camp when the first streak of dawn appears,
touching up the mountain tops with a roseate glow.
The chmbing is difficult on the slippery grass slopes ;
and paths made by the sharp feet of the gooral must be
followed in order to get round the spurs and buttresses
of the hill, clinging on for bare hfe to bits of jutting rock,
and keeping a good look-out when rounding the points
of the ridges. It is slow work, and our native shikari is
all excitement to catch sight of the game. Their dull,

* Quercus incana (banse), common ; silver under-Ieaf.

Quercus floribunda (tillonge), a fine tree.

Quercus semicarpifolia (khersoo), grows to a great size ; fine
timber.
\ Nemorhccdiis goral.

THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST 187

yellowish colour makes them hard to see against the burnt
and yellow grass and gray rocks. At last we round a
corner, and on the next ridge on a jutting rock there stands
a fine old buck, about as big as a goat, sharp against the
eastern sky, there being just Ught enough to sight him.
There are three others with kids, grazing on the slope
between the rocks, quietly picking at the greenest spots.
They are within easy shot, but the buck is the more tempt-
ing, and he is over 100 yards away. Presently they move
upwards, as if scenting danger, and one gives a short, sharp
sort of sneeze. There is no time to delay, so we put up the
100 yards sight and take a steady shot at the buck. He
is struck, and falls straight down into the khud below. The
females dart with frantic speed down the slope, and dis-
appear with desperate bounds apparently into clear space.

The gooral, sometimes called han hakri — ' wild goat '
— is about the same size as a chamois, and resembles that
animal very much ; but is, I think, a somewhat slighter
and less angularly built beast. The horns of the chamois
are set at quite a different angle, pointing much more
forward, and the curve is more of a hook. For eating
purposes they are much alike. Having stalked and shot
both, I consider the sport very similar ; but the gooral
lives on grassy slopes preferably, while the chamois
delights in rocky precipices near the snow-line, correspond-
ing in that respect with the more alpine thar. The
gooral has no beard, and its tail is black.

To bring him to bag it is necessary to be a first-rate
cragsman, and to wear either boots, with big nails or
spikes, or grass shoes. On first ascending the hills, the
passage along the edges of the khud is rather alarming ;
but custom soon steadies the nerves, and the most timid
will look down enormous depths with perfect callousness.
I possessed several gunt ponies, and they all preferred to

i88 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

walk on the very edge even where the path was wide ; it
seemed their nature. Riding day after day with one leg
hanging over space, and only the sure-footedness of a
pony to rely on, became the ordinary condition of travel-
ling. Only once have I known an unridden pony to go
down, and that was on a gravel face where the bank gave
under him. He retained his balance and slithered down
about 30 feet, and pulled up on a ledge of grass, where he
grazed unconcernedly. Once when riding up a very steep
place, where a narrow path led over the head of a quite
perpendicular khud, where I should have dismounted but
for a strained ankle which I was saving, my best gray
pony, a stoutly-made Bhotia, about 13 hands, with un-
shod feet like iron, scrambled on the brink. I slipped
off on the hillside and tried to save the poor beast, but
he could not recover his legs, and rolled over twice before
he was pulled up against a small chir-tree just overhanging
the precipice. We climbed down to him, and I tied his
leg to a root to help him to stick. His head was out
overhanging the khud, and he lay quite still, every muscle
strained to keep his position. The syce ran to a village
for ropes, and brought men, who pulled him up again
none the worse. He neighed to me when I praised him for
lying so still. He was a good and faithful companion,
who accompanied me on many marches. When riding
a long dak quickly, I usually took two ponies. I rode
one, and the other trotted on after, unled. When one had
done his share I changed to the other. When walking,
it was advisable to let one go ahead and the other follow,
as if both ran ahead they would sometimes go too fast,
and one had to walk further than one wanted to. One
syce was usually sent on running some hours before the
start, and the other ran behind. Thus thirty miles could
easily be done in a day, or forty at a pinch.

THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST 189

After dark, leopards occasionally gave trouble. The
ponies occasionally snorted and refused to go forward,
smelling a lurking tendua or panther. Cracking a whip
and shouting generally kept him at a respectful distance.
I have several times at twihght seen a leopard cross the
path, and once one tried to spring on my dogs, who ran at
my ponies' heels. They saved their lives by running under
the ponies' legs, and by shouting the leopard was scared off.

Leopards are beautiful and graceful animals, the picture
of cunning, audacity, and shnking timidity combined.
They are very common in the lower jungles and chir
regions — indeed, everywhere over the hills. Different
localities seem to be frequented by different varieties of
leopard or panther. I have shot the large variety
several times among the lower hills, and also seen and
shot a much smaller leopard in Gorakhpur, with longer
tail, and bullet head, and spots more concentrated. I
reared a young leopard which was brought to me in the
Kangra valley ; it was a nice pet, about as big as a cat,
and it used to delight to sit on my knee and purr ; but
one day it met all its claws in my leg for sheer sport,
which I did not appreciate, and eventually it became
savage, and if it got a piece of meat it would behave
nastily. I fed it on bread and milk, but it died in the
rains.*

One evening my two spaniels rushed inside the tent
growling and snarling, and the chaprasi, who luckily stood
at the door, sang out ' Bagh, sahib, bagh .''f Coming out,

* Fe/is Pardus or Leopardiis of Jerdon, called 'tendua' sometimes,
also by the natives ' bagheera,' and in the hills ' lakha bagha,' a name
more properly belonging to the hyena ; also ' chita ' in the plains, which
name belongs rather to the hunting leopard, Felis jubata, which is a
very distinct species.

t Natives always apply the politest terms they can to what they
respect. Thus, a tiger is often put up a degree higher and called a
lion, ' sher' A leopard is called a tiger, ' bagh'

I90 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

he pointed to where the leopard had sprung, nearly to
the tent door, before disappearing among the bushes.
I tried long to sight him crouched in the shadow, but
failed to see him. To draw him out, I tied a white kid on
a bank to a bush, and waited with the rifle ready. It was
now getting dark, but I saw, as I thought, the kid spring
up the bank, only the long tail was not that of a kid. It
was too dark to distinguish anything but the form of
some animal, so I fired at the beast and saw it spring
away into the bushes untouched ; but in the instant it
had killed the kid, which I examined and found dead.
There was a little native chappar, where a native was
cooking his evening meal and a small fire burning. In
this I crouched, and got a better view of the white kid
lying about six yards off. Presently a dark object seemed
to glide across the white kid, and it had the round form
of a leopard's head, crouching almost flat ; the long body
could just be made out. Taking a bit of burning charcoal,
I placed it on the rifle end to act as a front sight, and found
no difficulty in placing it where the beast's shoulder
should be, and fired. The result was some very ugly
grunts and roars, and a scrimmage could be heard among
the bushes on the bank, then some kicks and groans
which sounded like the end. My bearer got a lanthorn,
hung from a long bamboo, and lowered it over the spot,
among rocks and jungle, while I pointed steadily with the
rifle to make sure he should not be alive and able to spring ;
but no movement came, and at last we could see the spots
and form of a fine leopard lying dead, and no mistake,
among the rocks. This was a great joy to the syces and
camp followers, who had for several nights been annoyed
by this leopard prowling round. Several times the horses
had jumped and broken their heel-ropes in the night.
The goats and sheep had had a rough time, two of them

THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST 191

having disappeared, and the poor dogs had been unable
to sleep for watching. The khansamah, when cooking by
his fire, had seen a big leopard lying on a rock just above
him, outlined against the sunset sky. This was a fair-
sized leopard, or panther it might be called, and its skin
was a beautiful one.

Shortly after that, the villagers reported having lost
goats and calves in a valley not far off, where was much
scrub jungle, rocks, and a river of clear green water
flowing by, with deep pools and khair-trees on the flat.
They brought word about two o'clock one day that a
buffalo calf had just been killed, and its blood sucked from
the neck by a tiger or a panther. Going at once, I climbed
into the fork of a khair-tree, the only one available, just
three yards above the calf, and sat there from three till
six, rifle to shoulder pointed at the calf. It was the cold
season, and not too hot. Dressed in khaki-coloured
jacket and preserving an immovable attitude, I hoped to
remain unobserved, as leopards do not often look up into
trees. The wind, gently passing up the valley, as it
always does in the afternoon, would carry the scent clean
away. It was tiresome work sitting still, but I had
secured a firm position by placing a few cross boughs in
the fork. The sun sank behind the hill, the breeze fell
to a calm, and silence reigned. The birds, having finished
their screeching and flying round, were thinking of going
to roost ; some jungle fowl were running through the
tufts of long grass on the sand by the black stems of the
feathery acacia-trees. There sounded through the still-
ness a hollow ' Ooh, ooh ' from the hillside across the river,
whence came the continuous musical murmurings of the
stream flowing among rocks. A second similar call,
somewhat louder, but in the opposite direction. The
sound was like a ventriloquist's voice, and seemed to come

192 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

out of the air. It announced, surely, the coming of the
wily depredator, whatever he might be. It must be a
large animal to kill a buffalo calf. My tortures of sitting
motionless, with strain on the eyes and ears, soon came to
a climax, and a very large panther walked coolly up to
its prey with the usual cat-like, gliding stride. As I
slightly turned the rifle to point it, the panther's wide-
open yellow eyes caught the motion, and he stared for
an instant straight in my face, at the same instant raising
his lips and showing his white teeth in a fierce snarl. But
at the same moment I covered him between the eyes, and
let off both barrels. The bullets both entered fair into
his brain, and he fell with the usual hollow roar. This
was a very fine male panther, measuring 8 feet, and very
fat and heavy.

I often spent several hours of day or night sitting over
a kill, with more or less success. Most frequently in the
dark the leopard or tiger would come and eat some of the
carcase ; one heard the bones crunching, but could see
nothing. I fired at the sound, sometimes getting nothing,
or perhaps wounding only ; sometimes getting a skin.
On one occasion a leopard came across the muzzle of the
rifle about one yard off. There was only a thick clump
of bushes to sit in. The bullet went clean through the
leopard, and he fought and roared on the ground, much
too close to the bush for one's pleasure ; but he got up
and slunk away, and died in an adjoining cave. This
was in the night. Once I was with a very enthusiastic
R.E. lieutenant, who was eager for blood. A tiger had
killed two cows, and we tossed up for places to sit. The
tiger came in broad daylight, and I saw the yellow hide and
the stripes through some bamboos, moving slowly across.
He did not, however, come to either of the kills, and we
found afterwards that there was a third cow lying fifty

THE GREAT CHIR PINE FOREST 193

yards further off, where he spent an hour eating and tear-
ing the meat off the haunch of his victim, while we tore
our hair with disappointment at not getting a shot.

It is surprising what numbers and varieties of beasts,
birds, and reptiles frequent these various regions. To
describe them all is the work of a naturalist, but to
wanderers in the forest new plants and animals are an
endless source of interest. Of birds I may mention the
lammergeier, which sails round and round the tops and
faces of the cliffs on extended wing, ever soaring without
apparent motion of its wings, which measure 10 feet from
tip to tip. I have often watched half a dozen, perhaps,
of these great eagles passing quite close to the cliff where
I stood, so close that I could see the bright big eyes, the
great, powerful hooked bill, the rufous, tawny markings
on the yellow feathers, the crested head, and the cruel
talons gathered up under the breast.

13

CHAPTER XVI

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS

The great sal forest covers the dry hot regions of the
foot-hills and the Bhabar, which extends in a belt of from
ten to twenty miles wide the entire length of India, from
the Punjab, where it is less developed, right away through
the North-West Provinces, Oudh, and Bengal to Assam
and the Brahmaputra, clothing with its dark, dense foliage
the whole of the foot-hills up to 3,000 or 4,000 feet. It
is probably the most extensive forest of one particular
tree in the world. It grows also — or rather grew, for
the woodman's axe has laid low aU the fine big timber —
in portions of the Central Provinces, Nagpur, and the
Mysore hills and Tenasserim. Sal* has always been
considered in India the most valuable of timbers, even
stronger and heavier than teak. It is a dark-brown, close-
grained, hard wood, with straight interlaced fibre. It is
used in the gun-carriage factories for the limbers, and is
considered the strongest and most durable timber. It
had been so extensively used for building purposes,
carpenters' work, and latterly for sleepers, that the great
trees which abounded all through the forests had disap-
peared, and nothing remained but saplings and young
trees, all growing as close together as possible, their
straight black stems and shiny green heads forming a
complete thicket. Occasionally, in the inaccessible places

* Shorea robusta according to Roxburgh, also Vatica robusta.

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 195

and the steep hillsides one saw a mature sal-tree. It is
a grand and noble stem, straight up with scarce a branch.
I have seen some 16 feet in girth, sound and healthy,
60 or 70 feet in height, with straight stems to first branch.
It is impregnated with a resinous, highly scented juice
or gum, which the natives draw from the stems, called
ral, which is like pitch, and is put to similar uses. The
timber will stand the severe changes of heat and moisture
better than most other timbers.

I will now describe a day in the Bhabar. We start on
a single pad elephant from Haldwani, on the southward
road, to Bareilly at the foot of the hills. Haldwani was
an oasis in the dry Bhabar, for here had been constructed
by the paternal Government of Kumaon straight canals,
leading from the hills, which carry the life-giving fluid
for irrigating great tracts of the Bhabar reclaimed from
the forest, where, thanks to the kind old Commissioner
Ramsay, there were hundreds of acres of cultivation,
settled by thriving and industrious Kumaonis.

The elephant tramps along the edge of the water-course
over the gravelly flat, taking the first straight track
between flourishing crops, towards the nearest edge of
the forest, which stands up to the south-east, a straight
line of sal-trees. Soon we enter the jungle, and soon we
are lost among the trees and long grass, which the elephant
can just force his way through. We keep going eastward,
and on goes the elephant with long strides ; truly he has
room enough to step out, for the forest extends in an
easterly direction by south for over 1,000 miles, with few
intervals. The forest gets opener, and the sal -trees,
which have been protected by the same good guardian,
the Conservator of Forests, for some years, have certainly
benefited, some being 40 feet high and growing healthily.
There are immense numbers of fine seedlings 20 feet high,

13—2

196 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and in time there will be sal-timber galore. The sunlight
glistens on the shiny leaves, and its heat is pretty strong,
baking the dry soil where the grass has not grown very
thickly. For there is no water in the Bhabar, not a spring
nor a stream nor even a trickle in the many dry water-
courses which we cross ; the elephant stumbling over the
rounded stones and boulders, for elephants cannot
comfortably tread on gravel and stones.

The great body of water which is flowing down the
rivers from the Himalayas is all underneath the surface,
filtering through the gravel beds, to break out again in
the Terai — new sources and new rivers. This goes on
in the dry season ; and the great rivers, the Ram Ganga
and the Sarju, are then only small, shallow streams. But
in the rains, when the great water-gates are loosed, then
all the rivers flow in full channels with swollen yellow
torrents, surging and ever pressing onward to join the
great Ganga. The result of the tropical monsoon rainfall
of 100 to 400 inches is that the stuff which has been washed
down the river valleys is now spread out in great gravel-
beds at the foot of the hills. The materials are sorted out,
the heaviest boulders and stones being carried the shortest
journey, the less heavy ones next, and the lighter stones,
gravel, and sand spread out further over the plains ; till,
lastly, the more soluble clays and silt are deposited,
forming the ' Terai.'

The filtering of the water through gravel-beds over
1,000 feet thick ought to make it very pure and whole-
some. Unfortunately, it soon gets stagnant in the swamps
and sluggish mud-streams lower down. The Terai, like
the Roman Campagna under the Alban hills, which is a
similar formation, is celebrated for its deadly fevers,
which are worst in the autumn, when the rains are drying
up. But, strange to say, the dry and stony Bhabar is

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 197

even more unhealthy, though there is absolutely no
water. It may be found that the mosquito is answerable
for the fevers in India as well as in Italy. There are
plenty of mosquitoes in the Bhabar after the rains ; in
December the frosts begin and kill them. At that time
fevers cease. The natives of the Terai are so naturalized
to the fever germs that they cannot live elsewhere.
They usually carry a piece of arsenic, from which they
scrape off a little daily with a knife and take some grains,
which, they say, keeps off fever. Garlic, onions, and asafoe-
tida are also taken in their food for the same purpose.
Plainsmen and paharis generally die if they sleep in the
Terai before November i or after June i.

To return to our elephant ride. Turning to the south,
the jungle becomes of a different character, less timber and
more grass. The grass is now 10 feet high, and no man
on foot could get through it. In the winter months the
natives who graze their cattle in the forest take care to
burn all the long grass, so that young green stuff may
spring from the roots. We come across the line of fire,
which is advancing across the forest, generally against the
wind ; but there is very little wind, and the fire moves on
so slowly that no one seems to be afraid of it. The ele-
phant walks quite unconcernedly up to where the flames
are crackling and roaring 20 feet high. The insects suffer
most, and flutter up before the flames, a crowd of poor
scorching moths and butterflies. The king-crows, black
birds with forked tails, and fly-catchers, and even kites,
are seen feeding on the insects close to the flames and
smoke. It does not at all come up to the harrowing
description of forest fires one has read of in books. This
may be owing to the absence of wind. We shape our
course by the compass if the hills cannot be seen, and the
elephant now swings along over the open, blackened

198 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

ground more easily. The sal-trees seem to suffer very
little from the fire, their bark being thick and sappy, and
their leaves tough and high up above the flames ; but in
reserved forests it is advisable to exclude fires, in order
to give seedlings a good start. Further south we come
on glades in the forest in long strips, the whole plain south-
ward being a sea of still unbumt grass. Trees, also, of
various kinds begin to take the place of the sal. There
are saj, semal, dhak, khair, sissoo, and jamun, besides
other kinds.

In these glades, where the grass is not more than 4 or
5 feet high, many deer find covert. The elephant moves
so silently that the herds of deer couched in the grass
almost permit him to walk on top of them. Then, with
a rush, they slink off, scarcely showing their spotted backs
and slender, graceful horns above the covert. There is
the axis, or spotted deer, about the size of the fallow, but
with round — not palmated — horns. These were so
numerous that every few minutes one could see the motion
of the grass, where numbers were started. Pigs, also, and
hog-deer are started. The former lie in the grass, an
old one, perhaps, with a ' sounder ' of ten or twelve half-
grown young pigs. They make mounds of cut grass and
sleep in the nests thus formed. The grunting and the
determined rush of a sounder through the grass are dis-
concerting to most elephants. Nilghai also one occasion-
ally met. Their dark-blue backs are more easily seen
galloping through the jungle. An occasional tiger who
is out stalking the deer may by chance be stumbled upon.
I have myself shot a very fine tiger from a pad, by a lucky
shot as he rushed across a path.

Here is a wonderful preserve of big game. During the
rains they have perfect safety, and without elephants no
man can find his way through this sea of grass.

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 199

The further one goes southward the more restricted
become the timber belts, and the open, grass-covered
plains of the Terai lie stretching to the horizon. In this
region is found the barasingha, or big ' twelve-tined '
or swamp deer, but further east, in Nepal, he is more
common. He is as large as the sambur and much bigger
than a red deer.*

There are several herds of wild elephants in these forests.
The great paths made through the long grass by these
beasts, lead for miles through the jungle, showing there
must be a considerable number. They are not allowed
to be shot, being too valuable and scarce. They used to
be captured by the Government kheda, but are now allowed
to roam in peace. They frequent only the Bhabar belt
and the lowest foot-hills, coming up into the narrow valleys
where water streams flow, and where there are no human
inhabitants, and where the jungle is dense and pipal-trees
are found, on which they feed. Coming out on the road
cut through the forest, leading southwards to Bareilly, as
the evening approaches, we follow it northward, returning
to Haldwani.

The trees have been felled well back from the great wide
road, so as to afford no covert for wild animals too near
its course. It runs perfectly straight in both directions
as far as the horizon, going away in distant perspective.
As we get nearer to the hills the view is remarkable. The
forest opens out into a wide park, with occasional groups
of various trees, the yellow grass forming the foreground.
Beyond is the long line of dark sal forest, and above it
there rise in faint blue outlines the summits of many
forest-clad mountains, fading away into the dim distance.
Then comes, as it were, a sky of purply blue, the warmer
tints of orange and red pervading it when the evening
approaches. Suddenly, as if by magic, right above,
* Cervus Diivauceli.

200 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

higher than one would ever expect to see such a vision,
the snowy range stands out, a lovely panorama of white
peaks cut out with blue shadows, standing in cold majesty
against the heavens. I have seen a similar effect across
the prairies when approaching the Rocky Mountains ; but
for striking effect and mysterious beauty the view from
the Bhabar or Terai, only occasionally seen, is unsur-
passed. What wonder the Hindu of the plains looks on
these great mountains as the divine habitation ! He
cannot believe that man can exist and walk up there, or
that water can harden into those white snow summits.
He prays towards the sources of his sacred river as the
most divine fountain of life, and he worships its ever-
welling waters as the stream which will bear him eventu-
ally on its bosom to Paradise.

It was under the same mysterious mountains further
eastwards, at Gaya in Bengal, that the religion of the
Buddhists had its origin, and the sacred Bo-tree is still
shown under which Sakiya Muni received the divine
revelation. Prior to these inspirations, the worshippers
of the fairies, found and still surviving in aU countries,
seem to have peopled every rock and summit, every
fountain and torrent, with their mysterious spirits or
deities, who must be kept in good humour and flattered
lest they may do us harm. Snake worship is also not
uncommon, with which the allegory of Eve and the tree
of knowledge may be connected. In these hills, as well
as in the Celtic countries of Europe, are found heaps of
stones, where the passenger throws something to appease
the devta or fairy of the ghat. The bush near the sacred
well is covered, as in Ireland, with rags tied on to please
the deity. I have often, in the least-frequented ranges
of the Himalayas, come on heaps of loose stones put
up on the summit of the hill ; also altars, where rice and

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 20i

food is placed and offerings to the deity. Very frequently
an iron model of a bow and arrow is seen placed by a
shikari to propitiate the devta, so that he may succeed
in bringing game to bag : otherwise, as he tells one, no
game will be shot.

It is remarkable how suddenly the change comes, when
one reaches the foot-hills, from perfectly flat plains to
precipices and rocks and perpetual declivity, where a flat
place to pitch a tent is scarcely found. The forest which
clothes the spurs and valleys in the foot-hills is much less
injured by man, and as we get up into steeper and more
inaccessible places it is often quite natural and untouched.
We must climb on foot, and follow the natural paths where
wild animals travel from their pasture to water, mostly
along valleys by the clear green running water, or along
ridges, till we gain a higher standpoint, above which we
are sure to see another ridge or summit towering miles
ahead. It is sweltering hot, but there is shade abundant.
The air begins to move upwards as the sun warms it.
Early in the day there is no sound but the rustle of a
slight air through the leaves. There is no lack of wild
animals in these beautiful forests ; even elephant tracks
are sometimes met with, old ones made during the rains.
But there are fresh tracks, the khoj of a noble stag, the
jerow,* for this is the haunt of the great six-tined deer. In
these unfrequented foot-hills I have stalked him frequently,
and observed his habits during years. He has very big
ears and eyes and nostrils, and all his senses are highly

* Rusa Aristotelis according to Jerdon ; called ' sambur ' in the
plains. Called by Aristotle, in his 'History of Animals,' the horse-
deer, because he may have been thought as big as a horse. His size,
according to Jerdon, is : length, 6 to 7 feet ; height, 13 to 14 hands.
Some give a larger size. The horns lack the beam or royal antler,
and seldom have more than six points. It is found in all India, and
up to 10,000 feet in the hills.

202 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

developed from being constantly on the watch for his
enemies of the feline race, tigers and leopards, which with
velvet tread are always stalking him. No man with boots
on has the smallest chance of approaching him, except
round the comer of a spur. He can see in the dark better
than any man — even a wild man, whose eyes are always in
practice. A bare-footed man, or one in gum-shoes, might
once in a way get within shot of him. I have shot a good
stag from an elephant at 20 yards' distance, as he stood up
from his lair and stared at the animal I was riding. I fear
this was taking a very mean advantage. But while one
goes along on foot, no matter how quietly, to get a shot
in the forest and slay a stag sambur is a feat of stalking
rarely brought off. I once did bring one to bag in this
way ; but he was a very old stag with only one eye, which
was turned away from me as he stood listening across a
ravine. His horns, which I still possess, are the largest I
ever saw, measuring 43^ inches in length, 43!^ in spread,
and 8|^ in circumference of beam. He was shot in the
Central Provinces. The jerow of the hills is exactly the
same animal, but the usual size of antler is much smaller
than the above.

The colour of stags is dark-brown — almost blue-black
sometimes, with rufous and yellow underneath. The hinds
are hght fawn. To shoot a hind I considered unsports-
manlike. I spent many happy days in the foot-hills
stalking the jerow, accompanied by a single bare-footed,
almost naked Dotial coolie named Jugia. He was a most
silent, cat-like young man, strong and lithe of limb, and
had eyes that could see through a thicket in the most
wonderful manner. I promoted him to the honour of
carrying my second rifle and luncheon basket, and he was
worth twenty professional shikaris. He would watch the
motion of my hand, and was always ready with the rifle.

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 203

He turned out a most faithful and valuable attendant,
and accompanied me to other districts.

In a side ravine, which was separated from the main
valley by a ridge of high rocks, I came suddenly on a brace
of big jerow stags fighting. They had not heard my ap-
proach in the heat and noise of the scuffle, their horns
being locked together and rattling loudly. I watched
them some time from behind the rocks before firing at
the biggest. They rushed away in different directions,
thundering down the steep hillside. Though shot clean
through the heart, the stag ran 200 yards before falling.
I once, in the Bori forest, found the skeletons of two stags
with horns locked together, both of which had fallen
victims to a deadly fight. Some of the old stags attain
a great size and weight. I have shot the red deer in the
Harz Mountains, and the wapiti in the Rockies, and find
the habits of all three very similar. The sambur or jerow
is a good half-way size between the other two. The horns,
are, however, not to be compared with those of the wapiti,
and 40 inches is a very big average length ; but sometimes
one meets with very thick horns up to 12 inches in circum-
ference.

I had the good fortune several times on these tramps
to come across another animal peculiar to these jungles
— the serow* or jungle antelope. He is horned like the
gooral, but twice as big, and looks like a short-eared
donkey. They have callous, horny knees from constantly
lying on rocks, and their hoofs are strong and legs thick
and adapted for climbing over rocks. I have found the
serow at 3,500 feet, and never as high as Dr. Jerdon places
him. He is not a graceful, bounding antelope, but shuffles
along, generally down the khud, when disturbed, at a tre-
mendous pace.

* Nemorhadus bubalimts. Habitat, according to Jerdon, from 6,000
to 1 2,000 feet.

204 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

He will sometimes, when cornered, run at a man with
a vicious snort, and is not at all timorous or easily removed
from his favourite ravine, which is usually a complete
thicket. When approaching such ground, one must
climb over rocks and into stony channels, all sloped at
a high angle, stooping under boughs, creeping between
stems, and keeping one's rifle ready. There are paths
worn by horny feet, and large round droppings. We
clamber down one ravine, I and the faithful Jugia. We
creep noiselessly, ears and eyes on the alert, round a
point into another gully, following the path leading up-
ward. The heat is intense, but there is shade and broad-
leaved foliage of trees and twining creepers. We hear
the sudden clatter of a beast coming towards us down
the ravine. We stand immovable, but all excitement
to know what is coming. Another rush and stones falling,
then silence. Just above us is an animal crouching nearly
to the ground, its strong legs straddled out as if ready for
a rush, its body half concealed among the branches. It
has ugly, sharp horns, and a sly, hostile expression in its
startled eye. Its black nose and shiny nostrils extended
motionless about lo yards above us, it seems about to
rush ; but the silver bead of my Westley-Richards bore on
its neck, and as it sprang forward the bullet sped — a
i6-bore with hollow tip — and crashed into the jugular.
We stepped aside to let it roU by head over heels, till
pulled up against a rock. I have several times seen the
serow in similar jungle ; but it is an animal not easy to
get, as it generally escapes unseen in the thicket with a
rush.

On such climbs among the foot-hills one may come
across any sort of game, from tigers downwards. On
one occasion I passed unknowingly within about five
yards of a tiger which was lying in a cave. I got a

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 205

glimpse of him moving away after I had gone some
distance.

Sometimes I spent the night sitting in a sort of nest,
made with soft boughs in a forked old oak-tree, right on
the top of a ridge commanding a ghat or pass-way from
one large valley to several others, with a blanket to keep
out the night chill. Most dehghtful nights they were in
the dry season, with scarce a breath of wind, and the bright
stars shining overhead, and complete sohtude. The beasts
often began to stir about 3 a.m., signalhng to one another
by signs only knowm to the jungle inhabitants, all having
their own separate language and each its own interests
to look after, often conflicting. The deer would seek the
green pasture about 4 a.m. to take their morning meal,
and, having filled themselves, about daylight would be on
the move for the thick jungle, where they would harbour
for the day. A big stag might seek a salt hck, where he
would satisfy his craving for such condiment. There
were several I knew of. There were places in the forest
where stags would soil, rolling themselves in mud. An
old bear might come lumbering along, turning over stones
and picking up insects, and scraping out ants' nests with
his claws like gouges. Later, a hideous striped hyena,*
with hang-dog expression and humped-up back, would
come along in a hurry, making for his favourite cave, as
if he thought he had stopped too late crunching the bones
of a poor cow that the tiger had left only partly eaten.
His unearthly call to his mate had been heard in the
night. Beautiful dark rufous-coated martens, t with long,
bushy tails, would chase one another through the branches
of a great saj-tree. Jackals and little hill foxes went by
on their midnight prowl, sometimes making the jungle

* Hycena striata (Lakha bagha).
t Mustela flavigula (Jerdon).

2o6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

re-echo with their dismal howls. The sounds of numerous
birds awakening came from the jungles below. Then all
became quiet again.

The langur monkeys told one a lot of what was going
on at daybreak. They frequented a cluster of great
mango and semal trees which surrounded a ruined temple
in the valley below. They seemed to know exactly
where the tiger spent his time, and gossiped perpetually
about the two bullocks that he had knocked over a
few days before near their temple on the flat where
the cattle grazed. Another lot, out on picket to watch,
had evidently heard some news or seen the tiger ; for they
broke out into very bad language, as one could guess
by the intonation of their deep hollow voices, some young
active bucks racing across a wide open space with astonish-
ing bounds. A langur, when racing, will bound perhaps
30 feet each bound, or 40 when he tries, partly on hands
and feet, but mostly springing from the hind-legs. Swing-
ing themselves into the branches of the nearest trees, they
kept shouting as plain as could be, ' The tiger ! the tiger !
Keep clear of our grounds.'

There was no doubt he was not far off, prowling with
slow stride, enjoying his morning's stroll and thinking of
retiring for the day. Perhaps he will cross by my ghat.
This was about 5 a.m., before the gualas were astir to
drive out their cattle in the valley. Several times there
came little kakur, or barking deer,* grazing not far off, a
pretty little orange-coloured deer, which barks often in
the mornings and evenings like the single bark of a small
dog. All animals were safe from my rifle, however, save

* Cervulus aureus — the rib-faced or barking-deer, according to
Jerdon. Almost identical with the muntjac of China. It is very
agile in creeping among thickets. It is somewhat like the roe-deer of
Europe, but much smaller.

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 207

the tiger, a cruel and wasteful brute, which did much
damage to the poor villagers' cattle. He was killed
shortly after in a trap set by the villagers. It consisted
of huge beams with rocks on top, propped up with a
forked prop and trigger, under which a kid was tied, not
far from this very ghat.

It is wonderful how the jungles at the foot of the hills
teem with bird life. Some are permanent residents,
others are migratory, on passage in the spring to northern
latitudes across the snowy range. They include nearly
all the small birds of Europe which migrate, besides
hundreds of Asiatic types. For instance, our own
familiar skylark visits India in the winter, and breeds,
probably, on the plains of Tibet ; but (according to the
ornithologists) there are nineteen other different species
of larks found in India at one or other season. Then there
are all the migrants which do not cross the snows, but
remain in the cooler climate of the Upper Himalayas all
through the summer, returning to the plains in the winter.

The permanent residents are also numerous. In a
morning's beat at the foot of the hills, following the flat
valley between densely wooded spurs where a stream
flows, we come, at early dawn, first on a troop of pea-fowl,
the gorgeous long-tailed cocks sunning themselves by
the water, the young birds and sleek brown hens picking
about among the senna bushes. They hear us coming and
run to a thicket ; but a brace of red spaniels, taking them
before and behind suddenly, flush half a dozen, which fly
with rapid wing-stroke in all directions, some coming to the
two guns, which knock over a couple. The young birds
were much sought after at Christmas-time by lady house-
keepers as substitutes for turkey.

Then we beat through the low scrub in the old bed of
the stream, now dry, where the dogs flush a few black

2o8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

partridge,* which come to bag. Hark ! there is the
cackle of a jungle fowl, like a little game hen.f The flock,
including a gay red -hackled jungle cock, are running
through the covert for the hill. They are flushed by the
dogs, and fly past one gun. One little brown hen flies
into the branches of a khair (acacia) tree, and sits there
in a confiding manner, peering down at the dogs smelling
about exactly under her, with her little head on one side,
looking exactly like a familiar barn-door hen or miniature
Dorking. No one could have the heart to disturb her,
and we pass on seeking other game. The jungle usually
resounds every morning with the ' cock's shrill clarion.'
It is shrill indeed — a short call of four syllables, ko-raye-
dlee — and reminds one of the farm-yard, but is less
drawn out. This fowl seems to be exactly our domestic
fowl, and probably the parent of all modem breeds of
poultry. There is another species in Madras.

Following the broad flats where camel-thorn trees grow
and many thorn bushes, we come out on the open plain,
where villagers are busy cutting the ripe barley, the women
with sickles and the men tying sheaves. We engage a few
boys to beat the stubbles for quail, which at this season
move north, just following the harvest. These plump
little birds spring in twos and threes with a sudden and
disconcerting bustle, and fly straight away, not four feet
from the ground. It is most provoking that, just as the
gun is levelled and sight taken, a black, half-naked reaper
lifts up his head from his harvesting exactly in the line
of the quail. One gets off well if, after having shot ten
brace of quail, the bag does not also include a native, who
has to be paid at the rate of perhaps five rupees per grain
of No. 9 shot. Returning towards the hills, we beat the

* Francolinus vulgaris (Kala titar).
t Callus ferriigineus (Jangli murghi).

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 209

slopes across the stream, which has sunk into the gravelly
soil and left its bed a channel of dry stones. The spaniels
put up a few plains partridge* at the edge of a circular
threshing-floor, where the natives are busy driving oxen
round on the com, laid on the smooth, hard floor in true
Biblical pattern. Other natives are winnowing, simply
dropping the barley on the heap from a sieve, while the
wind of the ' Rani's fan ' carries away the light chaff.
The dogs are busy amongst some rocks where wild
thistles grow, and put up a bevy of button quails,f which
buzz up in a great hurry in different directions, fanning
out as they fly. These are much smaller than the ordinary
quail, and are very plump, round little birds, but hard
to knock over, as they often seem to fly through the shot
in safety. Going higher up the hill and on to flats rising
in steps, we meet more black partridge and pea-fowl, and
work up the valley, where many low-growing shrubs give
shelter for pheasants to roost and pick under their stems.
A flock of kalijj pheasants have been drinking at the
stream, and the dogs follow their scent. Soon we hear
the squeak, squeak, or piping call peculiar to these pretty
silver-necked birds, as they are flushed and scatter, giving
a shot or two and fluttering into the trees. The hens are
quiet, brown-plumaged birds with short tails, and do not
fly freely, but are fat and undeniably good eating. There
is also the peura partridge, which lives in the thicket and
is almost impossible to get a shot at. Its call is a very
soft low whistle, repeated about ten times, quicker and
higher each note.

No one can fail to notice the beautiful Paradise fly-
catcher,§ flitting from tree to tree in small troops, the

* Francolinus Pondicherianus (titar).

+ Turnix Tancki.

\ Ge7inceus albocristatiis.

§ Terpsichore paradtsi, according to Blanford.

14

2IO THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

two long white feathers of the tail, 12 inches long, flutter-
ing in the breeze. The bird without the tail measures
about 4 inches. The black-and-white body and crested
head of the mature male are contrasted with the bright-
red colour of the younger birds. The deep-blue-coloured
rock thrush* with yellow legs, which inhabits the thickets,
reminds one of the familiar blackbird. The golden
oriole'sf soft, sweet whistle sounds aU day among the
tree-tops, a single mellow note. The red-billed blue
magpiesj flutter among the bush thickets, screeching as
they follow one another in a string. The Himalayan
jay§ is a lively, gay-plumaged bird. Then there is a
very remarkable black bird seen mostly in pairs, with two
long tail-feathers, all bare shank with two round plumes
at the ends about the size of a shilling. This is the lesser
racket -tailed drongo,|| a very beautiful bird. BriUiant
in scarlet plumage is the Indian minivet,^ with its bright
orange mate. Then, on the flats below the hills, there are
swarms of noisy, chattering mynahs** picking in great
flocks busily all day, like starhngs, a bird so tame that
he scarcely moves out of one's way, getting a good look
at the intruder, with his quaint head, which has a bald
patch on it, turned to one side. There are twenty-five
different species of mynahs described by Blanford, so
there are plenty to keep the insects picked off the fields.
The bulbul,tt of classical reputation as the sweetest
songster in India, the nightingale of Lalla Rookh, is a
disappointing bird, singing but a very common twitter.
He is a dark, dull bird, observable only from the crimson
patch under his tail ; but there are about thirty species

* Petrophila solitaria. f Oriolus kundoo.

\ Cissa Chinensis. § Garrulus bispecularis.

II Bhringa reviifer. T Pericrocotus speciosus.

** Acridotheres tristis. f f Malpastes iiitertnedius.

FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 211

of bulbuls, so it is hard to know the habits or song of many
of them. The little weaver bird* is a charmingly con-
fiding bird, like a sparrow. They come every year to
the same bush, a colony of five or six pairs, and build
their beautifully-shaped hanging nests, like bottle gourds
with a narrow neck, all neatly woven out of dry
grass, and all quite low down near the ground ; and bring
out their young unmolested by man. The boys in India,
though possessing some habits not very commendable,
do not appear to rob birds' nests. When crossing the
open, uncultivated flats, the very loud and plaintive cry
of the spur- winged ploverf never fails to attract attention.
' Pity to do it ! pity to do it !' he shrieks, flying and
curling in hurried alarm round and round. He carries
a strong, sharp spur bent sideways at the shoulder of his
wing. One day, when riding on an elephant, I discovered
how useful the spur was. I saw one of these birds en-
gaged in mortal combat with a snake which was trying
to rob her nest, a perfectly bare spot on the bare ground.
The bird got the best of the battle, inflicting some sharp
spur blows on the serpent, which retired discomfited.

Talking of snakes, there are great pythons in the
Bhabar, which are said to swallow anything they can get
their jaws open wide enough to pass down, up to a young
deer, which is first squeezed to death, then flattened and
bolted whole. The longest I have seen was 15 feet long
and not very thick. Poisonous snakes, on the whole, do
not come in evidence before one, and in the course of
years going through the forest I have scarcely seen two
dozen. I always wore long boots, and at night one did
not walk about much without a lanthorn. The munshi^s
wife died of a cobra bite got at night by walking about in

■* Ploceus manyar.

t Hoplopterus -ventralis.

14 — 2

212 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

the dark, and a grass-cutter also got bitten and died.
I gave brandy on each occasion, but it was useless.
Grass snakes and tree snakes and harmless water snakes
are common, but seldom annoy one.

The insects in the forest would take books to describe.
Wild bees are the most obnoxious, and if disturbed in
their nest will sting a horse, dog, or man to death if they
can. Centipedes and scorpions are legion. But the most
beautiful of insects is the giant spider, bottle-green and
golden, which measures 6 inches across, counting his
numerous legs. He makes a web between two tall trees,
and sits in the centre of it, his great golden body shin-
ing in the sun. When passing through the forest on an
elephant I have refrained from going on through a web,
not liking to encounter the spider or destroy so beautiful
a web. There are too many wonderful and beautiful
creatures in the forests to describe the tenth part of them,
and the reader must be referred to works of natural
history, where they are described scientifically.

CHAPTER XVII

THE TERM : SPORT OF PRINCES

A WIDE plain, stretching southward and eastward and
westward to the distant horizon, lately one sea of tall
grass, now blackened and swept bare by the annual
jungle fires, except where there remained patches and
islands of sedge and reed which had escaped the devas-
tating flames. These are often literally islands, l5ang be-
tween the serpentine and ever-branching courses of
sluggish streams, which take their rise in the swamps of
the Terai. The shikari elephants, which have plodded
their twelve-mile march with stealthy, long, striding step
all day through the dense forest of the Bhabar in the intense
heat of an April day, emerge into the open plain. Swamps
and muddy pools are reached, and the elephants, with
pleasant clapping of their great limber trunks and metallic
noises, talk to one another; and splash in the stagnant
water, squirting it over their hot and shiny sides, which
look black and gray and wrinkled, like an old man's
hand. Far away to the south, where the patches of long
grass follow the course of a slow-winding stream, cut Uke
a canal, but with ever-crumbling banks, through alluvial
mud, there appears some rising ground with bushes of
khair and sissoo-trees and dhak, all gorgeous with fire-
coloured blossom, and a few lofty semal-trees, and belts
of bright-green jamun, like willow, growing in the hollow

214 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

places. Under these trees can be seen a double row of
white tents with a large oblong marquee in the centre,
surrounded by lines of picketed elephants, horses, and
camels, and the usual crowd of native servants bustling
about, and fires burning, where cooks are busy, sitting
on their haimches, and bheesties bringing their well-
filled masaks of clear water from the well.

The place was called Uncha Ganw, or ' lofty village,'
but there was no village visible, only a few chappars or
grass huts, where gualas herded their buffaloes ; and uncha
did not signify more than an elevation of a few feet of
dry soil above the dead level of the swamp.

The elephants were made to kneel down at the doors
of the tents, and each sahib dismounted, willing servants
handing in guns and small articles. The sun was now
setting, and the blazing sky had become suffused with
the opalescent tints of dusk, reddening to a hazy deep
crimson near the western horizon, to be followed by
rapid nightfall. It was a real pleasure to wash off the
dust of travel under the flow of the bheesty's masak
inside the khanats of the wide tent. The bearer was par-
ticular to have every article of evening attire laid out, and
the studs ready, in a shirt got up as well as if it were done
by a Parisian blanchisseuse. The gong having sounded,
the guests assembled in the verandah of the large tent,
where chairs were set on a thick carpet, while inside could
be seen through the chinks a long dinner-table glistening
with glass and silver and shiny linen. The head khansa-
mah, a portly person with curly black hair and beard well
turned up, and spotless white dress and flat turban,
bearing the crest of the noble house of Dalhousie, an-
nounced with stately dignity that the Hazur's soup was on
the table. The head of the table was occupied by our
most genial host, Colonel the Hon. Henry Ramsay, C.B.

THE TERM : SPORT OF PRINCES 215

The party consisted of the Commissioners of Bareilly and
Terai, a Brigadier, a Colonel, the Magistrate of the Terai,
a man to be trusted to organize a beat under the Chief's
instructions, the Forest Surveyor, and a Rajah. The
latter, of course, dined in his own tent. The table was
brightly lighted by numerous candles, in glass shades to
keep off wind and insects ; and lamps swung to the ridge
pole. The floor was well carpeted, and the moisture
from the ground below was completely excluded. The
deadly cold damp chill which comes on at nightfall in the
Terai, after the burning heat of the day, was not so marked
after April i ; but in the early cold weather it is bad for
giving fever. At this season the climate was delightfully
cool at night, and the surface so well dried and baked by
the sun that little chill was felt, and nothing could be more
healthy. This was camping in luxury indeed, and could
be carried out in no country better than in India. Every-
thing had to be packed up at night and carried on to the
next camp, a second lot of tents being sent on and pitched
ready for the next day. The organization was excellent,
and all done without noise or mistake in regular routine.

At first dawn of day shikaris were at the door of the
Commissioner's tent. Kia khabar hai — ' what news of
the night ?' A few shivering gualas in black blankets
were crouching by a fire. They had tracked a tiger into a
nullah late last night, and another reported a kill of two
cows in a certain swampy place. It was yet dark, but
for some time the little jungle cocks had been crowing
in the dense brushwood all round the camp, their shrill
voices ushering in the early day. There is no time so
beautiful as the dawn in the Terai. A heavy dew covers
all the herbage, and the bushes are whitened with sheets
of dew-spangled cobwebs. The air is perfectly stiU, and
Nature seems to wake up slowly, as if with difficiilty

2l6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

roused from deep sleep. The eager sportsmen, however,
do not take long to get into their khaki hunting jackets,
and take at their tent doors the refreshing hot tea and
toast. The elephants are ready. Howdahs are strapped
on tightly, each girth being tightened by a ratchet
windlass with iron chains, besides the rope girthing round
the pad. A howdah coming loose or getting displaced
in a scrimmage with tigers might be serious. But in the
camp of Colonel Ramsay, who had slain his ' century ' of
tigers, such things are properly seen to ; the elephants are
staunch to the backbone, and the mahouts and men require
no instructions. The hara sahib rides a splendid tusker
called Ram Bux. He was a notorious fighting tusker, and
would, if so instructed by a word from his mahout and a
gentle kick behind the ear from his bare toes, by which
he was guided to right or left, rush in on a wounded
tiger, and impale him on his pointed tusks and kneel on
him to the death. Otherwise he stood as steady as a rock
when a tiger charged, and gave his master a steady shot.
The shots from the Colonel's favourite double Sam Smith
rifles, with 14-bore round bullets, were delivered with
such coolness and accuracy that in many encounters
during a series of years Ram Bux had never once been
wounded ; so that mahout and elephant had perfect con-
fidence in their master, and never flinched from the most
furious charge of a roaring tiger, enough to terrify some
elephants and make them turn sharp round and bolt.
When this happens, the result may be an unsteady shot,
and that the tiger lands straight on the tail of the ele-
phant, which gets gashed by the sharp claws of the infuri-
ated brute, and the elephant becomes unmanageable and
always unsteady ever after. Colonel Ramsay used to
say that he would not lend his staunchest shikari elephants
to a bad shot, as it is the bad shot who spoils the elephant.

THE TERM : SPORT OF PRINCES 217

It is absoluteh'^ forbidden by the laws of howdah shoot-
ing to fire when a tiger is on an elephant, as ten to one the
elephant would receive the bullet. Luckily a tiger, from
the great weight of his body, cannot spring off the ground
as a leopard can, or an ordinary cat, which latter can spring
ten or twelve times his own length from the ground, and
with ease ascend to the tops of trees. The tiger can only
ascend as far as he can reach with his forepaws, and has
scarcely ever been known to make good his spring on to
the top of a pad. I have seen the eight marks of the tiger's
claws on the top of my elephant's head, but that was
exceptionally high for one to spring. The mahout's
knees are quite safe under the elephant's ears, and the
howdah is well above the highest claw mark. An elephant
always curls up his trunk, which is his most sensitive
organ, close under his mouth when a tiger charges, and
so protects himself. It is very important in beating
out the long grass for all the elephants to be kept exactly
in line, and the rule is to fire only forward or straight
back, but never sideways from the howdah. These
cautions are duly given to the uninitiated, and our Chief
was very strict about the rules being observed most strin-
gently. The party in this case consisted mostly of old
hands, who all kept their places and obeyed the orders
received silently and promptly. The success of the drive
depends entirely on good management and perfect silence,
as otherwise the tiger invariably hears approaching
enemies, and will break back in the long grass if the line is
not perfect, and give no shot, or slink away if he hears
voices before the line gets near. Natives are placed on
trees at certain points which the line cannot command,
and are ordered if they see the tiger slinking away to
tap lightly on the tree-stem, which makes him turn in
the required direction. Care must also be taken to "go

2i8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

up wind as much as possible, and to place some howdahs
forward as long-stops at the end of the beat, in case of
tigers moving off too soon.

All preparations being duly made, the long array of
elephants starts for the ground where khahar has been
given that three tigers have been tracked to a certain
swampy nullah. Including several belonging to the
Rajah of Rampur, there are twenty-eight elephants all
told — eight howdahs, and twenty beating elephants with
pads, on which ride shikaris and village guides and
chaparsis, armed only with spears or latties. These
men have to hold tight on to the ropes which bind the
pads to the elephants' backs. Between each howdah in
the line are two or three pad elephants. No word is to
be spoken as the long-stops are sent on to their posts.
The Rajah is mounted on a very fine elephant, and his
howdah is painted and gilded in gorgeous tints, his gay-
coloured attire and liveried attendants contrasting with
the plain teak and cane-sided howdahs of the more busi-
ness-like sahibs, and their brown, drab-coloured clothing.
Each sahib has his loader in the seat behind him, and his
battery of eight or ten barrels handily placed in niches
to his right and left, the barrels pointing up and forward.
The i6 or 12-bore round bullet, with a fair strength of
powder behind, was then used preferably with rifle or
smooth bore, but some preferred a conical bullet.

The elephants are soon in position, advancing through
the long grass from the south, now spreading out wide
apart so as to cover the whole strip, now concentrating
more closely as the width of the jungle becomes less,
always forging onward towards the point where the tiger
would probably break northward.

Symptoms of tiger presently are too plain — the torn
and half-eaten carcase of a poor white cow, or the bones

THE TERM: SPORT OF PRINCES 219

of an animal, now bare and bleached. An elephant
screams sharply, and the others tap the ground with their
agile trunks, emitting a metallic sound of warning as
they scent the wily foe. See, there is a well-tramped
spot in a thorny cane-brake, where a tiger has been lying
partly in the water for coolness ! A cane-brake is an
ugly place to put an elephant through. It is a tangled
mass of green, shiny ropes, all twined in loops, every few
inches armed with the sharpest and most hooked of
' wait-a-bit ' thorns. No elephant will stand thorns,
which stick in his great feet and legs. These thorns
will penetrate strong leather, and the coils of cane are so
long and strong, creeping about for scores of yards, that
to get in amongst the tangle is to stay there some time.
The tiger has his passages under the brake, and can crouch
and slip through any place. Here he lies all the hot day,
secure against any intruders. No animal except the
grunting boar can penetrate to disturb him. The boar
is a sulky brute, and does not fear to have a tussle even
with the king of the jungles, the royal tiger, and some-
times gets a good score off him. Our old shikari says
that he once came across a dead tiger and a dying boar
l3dng together, the former ripped up to the liver by the
sharp edge of the boar's tusks, and covered with bleeding
gashes. The boar was mauled all over by claw marks ;
but his neck is so thick and his vitals so well covered by
fat that the tiger's teeth could not penetrate deep enough,
and so the tiger finds him a most ugly customer to en-
counter.

Slowly and carefully the mahouts force the unwilling
pad elephants to trample out every thicket, and there is
not a lair left unexplored ; the line is kept advancing
towards the end, which narrows to the head of the covert,
and only some hundred yards of thick jungle grass remain

220 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

to be beaten. Here the elephants become intensely
excited, and press forward with a peculiar nervous rush,
closer and closer together, in a steady phalanx, each how-
dah with the pads between. As yet no tiger has been
seen ; some hog-deer have scampered away, flying through
the close grass ; and the eager shikaris, standing in the
howdahs with rifle in hand, are intently watching the
covert beneath them. There are only a few yards left
of shorter grass scarcely long enough to conceal a cat.
Suddenly, and as if springing from the ground, three large
tigers dart with a fearful deep-sounding roar — ' hoohoo '
— from the last patch. One is bowled over by a gun placed
as long-stop ; another, struck by several bullets, turns
with a lightning-like charge straight on to the head of
the nearest pad elephant ; the third, a great male tiger,
with the air of a monarch who has never been used to have
his will disputed, comes on with open mouth, and roars,
and dies facing his enemies, struck down by a storm of
bullets. The poor pad elephant, trumpeting and shaking
his head, dislodges his dangerous enemy, which slinks
back into the covert, wounded and infuriated. The line
is faced round, and the tiger followed up to some thorny
bushes. It is now that the elephants become unsteady,
and trumpet and turn round, as each time that they
advance to the bushes the tiger comes on with a roar and
a bound. Each time, however, his charge is so rapid and
the grass so tall that he scarcely gives a chance for a shot
before he skulks back again into his friendly shelter.
However, at last ' he ' succumbs to a weU-directed shot,
and turns out to be a very fine tigress.

The shooting had been good, no tiger had escaped, and,
most important, the handohast (arrangements) had been
carried out to perfection and no mistakes made. Colonel
Ramsay would say that, if he gave his whole troop of

THE TERM : SPORT OF PRINCES 22£

elephants and staff of men to a ' griffin,' or one who did
not know the habits of tigers, he would back the tiger
to get away without giving a shot or being seen at all.
On the return to camp, through an open country of shortish
grass, permission to fire at all kinds of game was given,
and the whole line of elephants and howdahs beat across
the plain. Very pretty practice was made with the rifle
at hog-deer, spotted deer, and pigs, which were started
frequently, and bounded or ran at a great pace across
the front of the line. Many were knocked over at from
100 to 200 yards with the bullet. Standing in the howdah,
the unsteady rolling of the elephant must be counteracted
by a swaying motion of the body from the rider's knees,
alternate with the step of the animal. The rifle must be
thrown forward of the moving mark at the moment of
firing, so as to strike the game in a vital part.

As a rule, only deer with horns are fired at, as the
slaying of females is not considered sportsmanlike,
though, alas ! it is often done by people who should know
better. Peacocks also are shot occasionally with the
bullet, and aJso hares. Pigs are never spared, and are
easily shot, as they go in a very straight line and run in a
deliberate and sulky manner, as often as not coming
straight for the elephant with an angry grunt-grunt.
Elephants dread a pig more than a tiger, as he runs
between their legs and strikes with his tusks, giving fearful
gashes with astonishing speed. The shooting at smaller
game when there is a chance of a tiger being in the
neighbourhood is quite forbidden. One shot might easily
render futile all the arrangements for locating and sur-
rounding the tiger, as he will quietly slink off through the
long grass, going a long distance to another lair. A fox
is said to be the wiliest beast, but he does not come near
a tiger, which, being a much larger animal, is less easiW

222 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

concealed, and is therefore more cautious from constant
necessity. As a rule, the larger the animal the more
difficult he is to get a shot at. From being so conspicuous,
his eyes and ears and powers of scenting the approach
of intruders, especially man, are more highly developed.

Thus, the elephant has larger ears and a nasal apparatus
more sensitive than other animals even in proportion
to their size ; and his eyes, though small, are very sharp,
and he is the hardest to stalk of any known beast unless
the utmost caution is taken. The bison and the buffalo
are equally wide awake, as anyone will find who tries
to get near them. The native shikaris know by instinct
how they must track ; but without their aid, and without
the employment of counter -wiles and forethought to
avoid the smallest blunder, very few shots at big animals
are obtainable. If one watches the motions of a tiger or
leopard, their invariable method is seen to be one of
constant avoidance of being seen. They crouch almost
to the ground and advance a few steps with velvet tread,
making no sound, then stop still like a statue, with eyes
and ears straining to detect the smallest movement in
the jungle ; then, being perfectly satisfied, they glide on
a few steps, and stand again to take a fresh observation.
Then they always take a cast to leeward in order to get
the scent of anything on the ground they wish to traverse.

A man, as a rule, goes simply blundering on through the
jungle, making every imaginable noise with his boots and
voice, and breathing as loud as a grampus, regardless of
the wind, which gives him no information, and making
so much noise as to prevent him hearing what slight sounds
the jungle does contain. Natives with bare feet, of
course, have an advantage. And an unshod horse being
led through the jungle will sometimes put a sambur deer
off his guard ; but only sometimes, as the difference

THE TERM : SPORT OF PRINCES 223

between the sound of a man walking and a four-footed
beast is as easy for a jungle beast to detect as if he saw
them. But the gliding, silent step of an elephant, when
heard by game, seems to cause them no alarm. They
know that elephants are harmless, quiet beasts, minding
their own business and hurting no other animal ; and, in
fact, the wiliest beast, spotted deer, sambur, or buffalo,
will simply stand and stare at a passing elephant, or go
on quietly grazing. Hence the advantage of shooting
off an elephant. Until the shot is fired, and the poor,
unsuspicious beast's attention is attracted to the men on
the elephant's back, which at first, apparently, they do not
notice, they do not even run away. This is the case
certainly in the Terai and Bhabar forests, where wild
elephants exist, and are known by all other animals to
belong to the jungle fraternity. How often a poor beast
can be thus shamefully deceived I do not know ; but I
imagine only once, if he does escape the eight barrels
which the howdah contains. Yet it requires much
practice to hit even a standing deer from the moving
howdah, and it is wonderful how many are clean missed.
One morning after breakfast, on an off day, the smokers
of after-breakfast cheroots strolled from the tents to
where a chamar was engaged skinning a very huge male
tiger. He was duly measured before skinning, and taped
10 feet 6 inches, being a very heavy tiger, with immense
head, well fringed on the cheeks hke a Persian cat. His
tail was short for the length and size of his bod}-, and the
weight and size of his great muscular paws and forearms
gave one a fearful impression of what short work such a
monster could make of a man, if one were so foolish as to
put himself on a par with so powerful a beast in mortal
combat. Having seen the fine skin taken off and properly
stretched on the ground with sharp bamboo pegs, the

224 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

fat adhering to the skin being scraped off and wood ashes
apphed, Colonel Ramsay ordered the carcase to be
dragged out from under the thick mango-trees into the
open. Taking out his watch, he asked us to make a guess
as to how long the vultures would take to clean the flesh
off the bones. Some said half an hour. As there was
not a vulture in sight, this seemed even betting, but
Colonel Ramsay gave them ten minutes, which proved
to be correct. There was one vulture at first seen soaring
round and round very high up in the cloudless sky. He
closed his wings, and dropped on to the carcase with a
swoop. In two minutes the sky was full of vultures, all
concentrating from every side on the spot, and arriving,
with all the impetus their drop from a great height gave
them, as fast as it takes to tell the story. Then there com-
menced a frightful scene of literal carnage, every one tear-
ing with sharp hooked bill at the entrails first, then at the
flesh — all fighting for room to get a piece and tumbling
over one another with frantic haste, a mass of flapping
brown wings and bloody heads and claws, which was
ridiculous and horrible to see. When each was gorged,
he would sit in a helpless manner round the outskirts
of the melee, and a fresh lot would arrive to scrape the
bones or screech with disappointed rage.

Colonel Ramsay spoke of the folly of attacking a tiger
in the jungle on foot. By good luck a man might escape
several times, but he was bound to be taken in the end.
It was rank foolhardiness and bad shikar. It was also
silly to get off one's elephant and jump on an apparently
dead tiger, without great caution. This had been done
by Lieutenant S., who had struck his tiger with a buUet
in the head, and was immensely elated at the ease with
which he had finished his enemy. But, alas ! the tiger
was only stunned, and, jumping up again, took a nip out

THE TERAI: SPORT OF PRINCES 225

of Lieutenant S.'s side, exposing the liver to view, and
tapped him gently on the head, fracturing his skull, and
then walked quietly away. I was once told by a native
herdsman that a tiger had just killed his cow and carried
it away in his mouth, as a cat does a rat. He showed me
the tracks of where the tiger had jumped on the cow, and
the blood on the bushes ; and pointed to a deep ravine,
8 to 10 feet wide, with straight banks, over which the tiger
had bounded, cow and all. I examined the tracks, and
found where he had sprung off and landed, a pretty clean
jump. Going on about 100 yards, we found the cow
lying half eaten. The cow was, to my astonishment, a
very fair-sized one. This story I repeated to the Chief,
who perfectly corroborated the case, having seen the same
thing often. It seems inconsistent with the fact that a
tiger does not jump bodily on to an elephant, which is
lucky for the shikari ; but this might be explained by
a surmise that the tiger does not realize that he has a
man on the elephant's back to contend with. It is the
elephant only he takes into account, and he would be no
further in the fight on the elephant's back. He could not
by his weight bring the huge animal down, as he does the
frightened cow. He goes rather for his trunk, or tries to
maul his fleshy limbs, in which he sometimes succeeds,
and so terrifies the elephant that it flies frantically
through the jungle, and will not again come near or face
a feline on any terms. Such elephants are spoilt for
purposes of shikar, and are very dangerous to ride on.
Many are the well-known stories of ambitious shikaris,
who have borrowed elephants said to be staunch, but which,
when by evil luck a tiger was encountered, have bolted
screeching, tail in the air, crashing through the forest
regardless of all obstacles, creating a panic among other
innocent hatis, and smashing the howdah against over-

15

226 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

hanging branches, or perhaps tearing it off and precipi-
tating the bold shikari, with his loaded guns, to the ground,
on the top, perchance, of the infuriated tiger. Such are
the dangers of the pursuit of tigers with untried elephants,
far worse from the animal ridden than the one pursued.

It is unnecessary to describe the rest of the doings of
the Terai party, except to say that on this occasion the
bag came, in three camps, to nine tigers, and only one
that was put up got away unshot. The preference as to
position, if there was any, was given to each member of
the party in turn. There were few bad shots made, and
when the party separated, each lot going their own direc-
tion, the regrets were great. Every gun in all the howdahs
was emptied in the air as a parting salute, and all agreed
that they never had had a more delightful time or a more
successful week's shikar party.

Our Chief was a most successful administrator of his
province during a period the longest on record. He could
not tear himself from his much-loved people of Kumaon,
or the country he had won from barbarism ; and when he
retired it was to live his last days in his beautiful residence
at Binsar, in the dear old Himalayan hills.

To describe all the birds and animals of the Terai would
be a work in itself. In a game point of view, I may
mention the greater and lesser fiorikin, than which there
are no more beautiful birds or more worthy of the sports-
man's pursuit. The former is found in short grass near
swamps, where black partridges also abound, and these
are often shot with a line of guns and beaters, in the cold
season, on foot. The fiorikin rises straight up and flutters
like a woodcock. He is a large bird of the bustard tribe,
heavier than a wild duck, and is described by Blanford
as Sypheotis Bengalensis, 26 inches long ; the smaller as
Sypheotis aurita, 18 inches.

CHAPTER XVIII

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI

In the cold season of 1865 I was deputed by the Govern-
ment of the North-West Provinces, to make a Forest
Survey of the jungles of Gorakhpur, bordering on the
Nepal territory.

My orders as Forest Surveyor were to map out the
forests of that district, which had been hitherto not much
known as timber-producing woodlands. The extensive
sal forests had been looked upon by the civil authorities
as of little value and almost exhausted ; and, indeed,
the object of Government had been rather to permit the
trees to be cut down and the land reclaimed for cultiva-
tion, so as to increase the land revenue. Large blocks
had been given as grants to natives, who had worked out
the fine timber, and then left the forests still uncleared and
more worthless than before.

The records and revenue maps of the jungle lands lying
along the northern boundaries of the Gorakhpur district
and frontiers of Nepal showed that there was a con-
siderable extent of swampy Terai land, covered with long
grass, interspersed with stretches of forest reaching south-
ward along the banks of winding streams which flowed
into the river Gandak, a considerable affluent of the
Ganges. The forests were to be guarded from further
depredation, and mapped out into blocks and reserves.

15—2

228 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

The work was soon commenced of carefully surveying
the whole extent, marking the boundaries of the various
reserves, following the courses of streams, and ascertain-
ing the character and quantity of the timber growing.
To traverse the jungle elephants were necessary ; and the
camp was moved daily, and pitched in open glades and
elevated situations where found.

The native offtcial in whose charge the forests had
hitherto been, called the sarbarakhar, accompanied the
survey party, and acted as guide and assistant. He
was a gentleman of polished manners, plausible, and ready
with every information on the subject of his charge,
but, unfortunately, its correctness proved to be generally
unreliable. He did not quite enter into the spirit of
forest conservation, and believed that such a scheme was
a fanciful innovation, inconsistent with his own emolu-
ments. However, the sahib would find out for himself
that the jungles were quite worthless — dangerous, indeed,
to enter, from the deadly fevers there prevalent and from
wild animals. Tigers, leopards, and bears were wont to
commit depredations, springing on men and beasts ; and
were there not great herds of wild buffaloes concealed
in the long grass, whose ponderous size and huge spreading
horns rendered them impossible to resist when they
charged down on unwary travellers ? He had terrible
tales to tell of these savage monsters, called arna bhainsa ;
but he had never seen any, and God forbid that he ever
should. We started for the jungles, leaving civilization
and the bazaar, with forebodings of evil.

My first experience of the Gorakhpur camping was not
an agreeable one. The cold weather climate seemed
perfection — bright sun by day and a cool, still air at night,
when the sun went down in a golden glow with crimson
glory. The bright, clear atmosphere became cold and

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 229

almost frosty. The country looked beautiful and park-
like, dotted with great spreading pipal and mahua trees,
and there were frequent groves of mango-trees near the
villages, planted in rows, and called am ka hagicha ; the
name ' mango tope ' is not known to the natives. There
was much cultivation, the crops of wheat and barley
already covering the ground looked splendidly luxuriant ;
flax was already in flower — bright blue ; dhal, bajra, and
other kinds of millet grew tall, and the whole country
looked smihng and prosperous. A square tent with
verandah all round was pitched under some spreading
mangoes. The smooth ground was dry and hard. The
elephants, camels, and horses were picketed not far off,
and the natives were busy cooking their mid-day meals
of rice or chapatis on little fires of dried cow-dung. The
day was hot and sultry, and the sun blazed down most
powerfully from a cloudless but peculiar gray-blue sky.
The shade of the thick-foliaged trees was quite dark on the
ground, but mottled by streaks of sunlight glancing
through the leaves. The soft whistle of the golden oriole
and the green coppersmith bird in the branches over-
head, and the monotonous cooing of ringdoves and green
pigeons, betrayed their presence, though their bright-
coloured forms could not be seen in the shady thick
boughs. Numbers of inquisitive pink-faced monkeys
peeped down at the tents below and threw down sticks,
but were not inclined to mucli exercise in such oppressive
heat. Little ' devils,' or whirlwinds, causing the dust
to rise in pillars, occasionally disturbed the sleepy quiet-
ness of the time of siesta, and walked across the plain,
taking up dry leaves and scattering them again with
sticks and straws.

About three in the afternoon an ominous soughing
of the heated air came up at times from the north-west.

230 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Great lumps of towering clouds appeared on the horizon,
changing to dark gray underneath, with an orange, lurid
glare. Mysterious rumblings seemed to pervade the air,
or come upwards from the ground. Symptoms of an
approaching tornado were unmistakable. The natives
hurriedly completed their repast and gathered up all loose
articles ; the khalasis tightened the tent-pegs and loosened
the guy-ropes sufficiently to prevent the pegs being torn up
by the wetted tent, and deeper trenches were dug round
the tents. Presently the roar of distant thunder sounded
aloft, and came ever louder on the ear. A great wall of
inky blackness rose up in the north-west and approached
nearer every moment, though still there was not a breath
of air stirring among the tree-tops. Onwards and ever
closer marched black darkness, threatening to overwhelm
whatever came in its course. The roar, as of a fierce
battle, getting louder every moment, the animals became
terrified and burst their heel-ropes, some flying before
the storm, and others cowering in abject fear. And no
wonder, for with a hissing sound the wind began to rise,
and, with incessant lightning and fearful peals of rattling
thunder, the storm burst over our devoted camp. The
trees were twisted round, and the branches torn off and
sent flying across the plain. The hail came down as big
as pigeons' eggs, with a deluge reminding one of Niagara.
In two minutes every movable was sent flying into space.
The tents withstood the violence of the first gust, but
the second levelled them flat. Men struggled with the
tent-ropes to retain the flapping canvas from taking its
summary departure, and clung frantically to the great
buttressed stems of some sturdier mangoes. The dark-
ness was complete, but the lightning came through it
in blinding flashes, at the rate of forty or fifty per minute,
and the roar of the wind and hail and thunder was in-

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 231

distinguishable to the ear, deafened by the combined
and terrific racket. The hail soon flattened everything
into the ground, every green herb and every leaf disap-
pearing under heaps of hailstones ; and presently the
ground became a lake of water, running away towards
the natural outlets in big rivers. Luckily it never rose
more than a foot where the camp was pitched, and soon
ran away to hollower places. The extreme force of the
tornado lasted about a quarter of an hour only ; and it
then rapidly subsided, the black wall moving away as it
came, but leaving desolation behind it.

Many villagers came shivering to help to re-erect the
soaked tent and cut passages for the water. They com-
plained that all their crops had been destroyed, their
cattle killed or lost, and the houses flattened. The night
was fine, not a trace in the sky of the storm, and the stars
shone brilliantly. Next day we marched on, and ascer-
tained that the width of the track made across the country
was only half a mile. It pursued a straight course south-
eastward, and outside its area the com was standing all
right, and only slightly laid in places. Along the line
of destruction everything was flattened and not a vestige
of green to be seen, the ground being nothing but yellow
slime and cut up by water-courses. The zamindars were
not long in bringing their case before the Collector sahib,
and the paternal Government came rapidly to the front
\vith material assistance to the ruined agriculturists, and
remitted also all rent and taxes. There is usually a
period of winter rain at this season, when the wheat and
barley and flax are sown, very necessary for watering the
parched ground and to sustain life in the kharif or winter
crop. It is often, however, very scanty, and not continued
like the bar sat or summer rainy season, which comes when
the rabi or summer crops are sown.

232 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

The forest trees are not frequently thrown down, though
their branches are wrenched off. No trees hke EngHsh
elms, whose roots do not penetrate right down into the
ground, could exist at all in India. The fig-trees, like the
pipal, banian, paker, and harrar, are principally made up
of air-roots, which cling together and anchor the tree to
the ground, taking hold of the soil like guy-ropes and
clasping other trees, and they are safe against these storms.
The mango and mahua, which are planted all over India
for their fruit, seem to stand any storms ; as their stems
are not of great height, and their roots, like gnarled oaks,
grow well down into the alluvial soil. The semal or
cotton tree {Bombax heptaphyllum), well known in most
tropical countries for its scarlet flowers and cotton-bear-
ing seed capsules and its enormous height, is secured
by nature from storms by its habit of growing great
buttresses round its stem, which prop it up like those of a
lofty cathedral. The sal and teak trees, found in the
best timber forests, are capable of standing the effect of
storms from their habit of growing together and protecting
one another, and from their possessing very deep roots
and strong stems, well proportioned and not overloaded
with leafy boughs. The saj {Terminalia tomentosa) is
another conspicuous and handsome tree of the same
character. The survival of the fittest only is weU ex-
emplified among these trees. Those only with very
thick succulent bark and leathery leaves can stand the
scorching of the jungle fires ; and the deep penetration of
the roots is essential to draw moisture from the earth, some
20 feet below the surface, during the prolonged droughts
of the dry season. There is one deep-rooted species of
elm common, the Cellis austraica. It reverses the season
of casting its leaves, which wither and fall off in the hot
weather, and flowers in the early months of the cold season.

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 233

Most of the forest trees are evergreen, so-called, but in
truth they are deciduous, casting the entire crop of leaves
and bursting into fresh, tender foliage every winter. The
fig-trees are remarkable examples of this transformation.
I have camped under the dense shade of a spreading
pipal, and in three days' time every old leaf was fallen
to the ground, dry but still green, pushed off by the bud-
ding of the new growth. The delicate, beautiful young
leaves had all come out almost in one night, and unfolded
to their full size. Unlike the habit of European leaves,
which turn colour before falling, the Indian ones often
come out bright red and orange and change afterwards
to deep green.

In choosing a place for a camp, it is difficult to avoid
damaging the crops of peppers, which the natives cultivate
much in mango groves. The smaU-leaved variety here
grown produces the celebrated Nipali mirch, whose small
yellow pods are of much more delicate flavour than the
large red kinds.

I must now bring the reader to the Sunari forest on
the Nepal frontier. A sluggish stream with high mud
banks, winding in endless coils at the edge of a wide
plain. To the west a belt of forest of great extent,
consisting of dense growths of sal timber, over 400 to
the acre, interspersed with many other usual kinds of
trees, the stems, which were not more than 8 inches
thick, standing so close together that an elephant could
with difficulty force his way between. On an open
space by the river, camp was pitched. The rain, which
had been falling steadily for two days in a light, drizzling
manner, reminded one rather of Ireland. March i had
come in, certainly not like a lion, but in a manner unex-
pected and most unpleasant, the temperature being cold
and everything damp and wet, though the ground was

234 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

hard and baked by five months' fierce sun. The tent was
luckily dry under the outer fly, but the natives were in
miserable plight, shivering with cold, and huddled under
chappars of long grass, got from the village on the plain.
Many were attacked by fever, and quinine had to be
distributed. I sat in my tent working at maps, and
realized how much the world is indebted to the sun, and
vowed never to grumble at the heat of his glorious rays.
Cloud and mist hung over everything, and the jungle
seemed a place of dank, impenetrable gloom. The beasts
of the forest came to drink in the stream as if the day
were dark night ; tigers' and bears' tracks were fresh in
the mud, and great tracks which I had never seen, as
huge almost as an elephant's, but cloven. There could
be no mistaking these great wide footmarks for those of
ordinary cattle. They were the tracks of the great wild
buffalo, the arna, of which I had heard so much, an animal
most rare to find stiU at large in the jungles, the largest
and most dangerous of wild beasts, next to the homed
rhinoceros.

Next morning the sky had cleared ; a bright sun shone
out, and all nature was transformed. The dreadful
forest was shining and gay, the leaves sparkling with
drops of moisture in the glistening rays. Occasional
glimpses through the trees of the Himalayas, towering
against the northern sky, were visible like a scene in a
theatre. The elephants kneel down, and we climb up
and start to explore.

The straight black stems of the sal -trees are clasped
round by coils of huge creepers, which hang in festoons
from tree to tree. One carries a kukri, or Nepali knife,
in the howdah to cut these creepers, which would other-
wise stop one's progress. An elephant often pulls them
down with his trunk at command of his driver, and some-

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 235

times has to go at the stem of an inconvenient sapling with
his head and butt it down, shoving it over and then walk-
ing on it. This forest had had all the good timber long
since cut out of it by contractors, to whom it had been
let by Government to clear and make what they could.

The present growth of young seedlings and shoots
from the old stools was the result of only a few years'
letting alone, so quickly is the vegetation renewed in a
climate like a hothouse, with a deep alluvial soil. North-
ward over the Nepal frontier the old timber has not been
cut, and the great straight stems of magnificent trees,
100 feet high and 6 feet in girth, are a sight to rejoice the
heart of a forester. The system since inaugurated of
thinning out the rubbish and small crooked and stunted
poles, which the native farmers had a demand for, and
leaving the healthy seedlings to grow, has worked well ;
and the Gorakhpur forest division is now one of the best
paying divisions in the North- West Provinces.

Mounted on an elephant, in a comfortable howdah, with
maps and compass and lunch and a bottle of cold tea, and
a native guide on a pad elephant, we spend the entire
day forcing our way through the jungle, at times ghding
noiselessly through open glades where there is grass almost
3 feet high, the haunt of pigs and spotted and hog deer
{chital and para), while at times we cross, or follow the
course of, sunken ravines cut out of the deep alluvial and
sandy soil by streams from the hiUs northward. These
ravines are arched over by great branches of weird old
trees, jamun and saj and fig trees, whose roots make
fanciful interlacings. Creepers hang from tree to tree ;
troops of langur monkeys with hideous black faces and
white, long hair follow one another across the ravine,
bounding and swinging from rope to rope. It is difhcult
for an elephant to cross such ravines. He first tries the

236 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

edge of the cut-away bank with his trunk, then kneels
down on his hind-legs. He has a useful joint correspond-
ing to the knee of a man, kneeling on which he slips his
trunk and fore-legs over the edge, and feels till he gets
some foothold below on the sloping bank. Then he goes
down, carefully adjusting his feet, crumbling the bank
away, and lowering himself in a flabby manner to the
bottom. He appears to keep his head and to face almost
any obstacle, and preserves his balance wonderfully.
Having crossed the stream, testing the sandy bottom with
his trunk to avoid quicksand, he again faces the rising
bank, and, cUmbing up the most likely slope, he puts up
first one foot, then the other ; then, kneeling on his fore-
knees, he pulls up the hind, kneeling on each leg before
rising, in a deliberate, slow manner, which soon inspires
confidence on the rider's part. The howdah certainly
takes appalling angles, and one feels balanced over a
precipice ; but after negotiating half a dozen such ravines
safely, and being assured by the mahout of the perfect
excellence of his elephant, one ceases to tremble. A
veritable bog, phasan, is the most dangerous thing an
elephant can face. When one fore-leg goes down into a
treacherous swamp or quicksand, and the other follows
from the fierce tussle to pull the great unwieldy leg out,
then poor hati gets into a fearful state, struggling madly
and groaning, dragging at each leg alternately and rolling
from side to side, till all four legs get stuck. Then, if he
meets no firmer ground in front, ensues a battle sad to look
at. He becomes terrified, and will snatch in his trunk
anything he can lay hold of to put under his feet, even a
man. Branches of trees are thrown to him in quantities.
There was one who got into a quicksand at Gorakhpur
in the Gumti river, who went down lower every day, till
nothing remained but the end of his trunk over the sand,

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 237

still moving and breathing. Every effort to dig him out
proved vain.

An elephant is apparently never tired, and maintains
a steady rate of progress over all sorts of ground — about
five miles an hour. Small elephants can shuffle along
much faster than a big one, and are much more comfort-
able to ride, the motion being less rolling. It is a great
comfort, if one wishes to get home rapidly, to quit the
howdah and mount a small, smooth-running pad elephant
kept for the purpose.

There is no lack of variety in the day's march, which is
generally pretty continuous, only interrupted by a mid-
day tiffin under some shady trees and near to clear
running water. The line of the Himalayas is always in
sight. One can see the snow-white peaks of Dawalagiri
and Mount Everest, the highest mountains of the world.
In the foreground there are huts of the natives, who herd
cattle and cultivate small patches of grain. These huts,
in which they remain at night for fear of wild animals,
are of strange appearance, being mounted on poles some
20 feet high, with a ladder to ascend. Herds of black
tame buffaloes are dotted over the plain. It is easy to
distinguish the arna, or wild buffalo, from the tame, as
the former are double the size, and their horns are pointed
straight out, with an upturned curve like a crescent moon.
Those of the tame buffalo are much smaller, and are
pointed from the apex of the skull backwards and down,
before curving up at the side of the neck.

The arna is very different from most wild animals,
which naturally hide as much as possible from man. He
does not fear men, and will remain grazing within a few
hundred yards of a man, and if interfered with will move
off in a slow and sulky manner, or, if his animosity is
roused, he will come straight on and charge and crush to

238 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

death man or beast with great ease and pleasure. The
natives dread them much, and keep at a respectful dis-
tance, and climb up into trees at the shortest notice.
My first introduction to buffaloes was when camped at
Sunari. I had returned from surveying. It was just
getting dark, and I was bathing and changing my khaki-
coloured jungle clothing for the warmer evening suit,
which was specially padded to keep out the chills of the
Terai nightfall, when a chaprasi came breathless to the
tent door, saying, ' Arna, arna, sahib P I rushed out half
clad, with a 12-bore rifle loaded with round bullets, and
ran in the direction pointed out. I could see the great
black forms of five or six big beasts with gigantic upright
horns, quietly walking from the plain towards the jungle
a short distance off. I ran towards some trees to cut them
off, and, hiding behind a big stem, waited their arrival.
As they passed about 60 yards off I fired two shots at
the biggest bull, which appeared to strike him in the neck
or shoulder ; but the result was that they only hastened
their pace a bit, and lumbered off into the forest, the big
brute seeming to care absolutely nothing. The old
sarbarakhar was in the greatest excitement and fear lest
they should charge our tents. We heard no more about
them, and, examining the ground, there were no signs of
blood or marks of wounding. The skin of these great
beasts is so thick, as I afterwards discovered, that a
bullet will not always go through it, and if it strikes a
bone it will glance off rather than smash the bone, unless
the charge of powder is extra strong. I took to using
7 drachms of black powder instead of 3, which was the
ordinary charge, and substituted a conical bullet for a
round in the 12-bore. I tried also a single-barrelled
4-grooved 8-bore rifle, with 8 drachms of powder and
a round belted bullet. The kick from these charges was
pretty severe.

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 239

I had several views of arna, but on each occasion they
were moving across an open place, and reached the dense
jungle, where they disappeared. One morning I was
camped at Basauli, at the edge of the forest, when a native
came to say that a big arna bull, which was ' must,'' he
said, and very wicked, was committing havoc in his village
by knocking down houses and haycocks, and trampling
his bit of com and chasing his tame buffaloes ; and he
begged me to come at once and slay him. His wife and
children and all his brothers were up in trees, and they
were afraid to come down. I mounted my good elephant,
and, armed with every weapon I possessed, was soon
advancing in the direction pointed out. The great brute
was standing still in a patch of green com, and faced away
from us. The mahout walked the elephant straight for
him, and he did not notice our approach until we got
within 200 yards. He then faced suddenly round, and
I had a good opportunity of observing his enormous pro-
portions. He was very little like a tame buffalo, as he
had none of the angular coarse shapes of the common
bhainsa, being round and fat, with straight square back,
enormous thick neck, and great fierce head, with a crescent
of huge black horns. It was fine to see the sulky glare
of his wicked eyes, as he swung round and had one steady
look at the beast which dared to dispute his possession
of the ground. The size of his adversary seemed to dis-
may him not in the least, and the insolence of any animal
coming to disturb his reflections seemed to enrage him at
once. Shaking his huge homs and lashing his tail, he
just put down his black head, and, with a peculiar roar,
came full gallop straight for the elephant. My steady old
hati stood there, preparing to receive the charge on his
own broad forehead, but at about 25 yards the bullet
from the 8-bore rifle struck the bull fair between the homs.

240 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

I could hear the crash, and the charge was just stopped in
time to avoid a colhsion. My friend had got a smash on
his old skull that he didn't expect ; for his courage failed,
and he turned tail for the jungle, shaking his head and
grunting. I gave him a couple of 12-bore bullets in the
stem, which hurried his pace ; and he disappeared pretty
quickly into thick jungle, where I failed to track him
through the thicket. Some days afterwards he was found
dead by the natives five miles away, and very pleased they
were that the country was rid of him. I got his horns,
enormously heavy ones,

I frequently got a shot at a lovely buck chital when the
herds came out at evening or early morn to graze on the
plain, where the young green grass was springing from
the old burnt roots. At night the silence of the forest
was at times wakened by the loud and sonorous belling
of these pretty deer. It seemed a sin to shoot them,
but venison was much wanted. Walking silently along
the edge of the timber, one might see against the sunset
sky the graceful forms of some does feeding, which I
would not shoot at. Presently a spotted stag, with his
long slender horns thrown up, might be viewed standing
in a gap between the brushwood, watching the does and
giving a chance of a shot at 130 yards. I had a Jacob
rifle, 24-bore, with four grooves and a conical bullet,
hollowed in front, which was very true at this range. I
could generally put it in behind the shoulder if I got a
fair chance, and the bullet, opening, made a deadly wound,
so that the poor beast did not get away to linger and die
in the jungle, but fell in his tracks, and was made into
excellent venison stew or roasted over a bright wood fire.
This rifle was one of the first of the small-bore conical
projectile weapons, which have now been brought to the
height of perfection in the Lee-Metford service rifle. To

d-

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 241

General Jacob, an old Indian officer who fought in most of
the campaigns of the first half of the nineteenth century, is
due the credit of inventing the conical principle. He also
advocated the gaining twist which Metford adopted, and
the hardened lead and the perforated point ; and for
game rifles he used an explosive copper shell, inserted
if required in the point ; but these, I found, burst too
soon, and did not penetrate enough in a big animal.

On March 8 I joined camp with the Commissioner's
large shikar party, consisting of Mr. Charles Lindsay,
Commissioner of Gorakhpur, and Mrs. Lindsay, Mr. O.
(the Collector), Captain and Mrs. W., and Major D.
(police officer), also the Rajah of Bansi, a wealthy and
very sporting native prince. Our camp was pitched at
Sukwi, in the maidan, under spreading mango -trees.
The large white tents occupied quite an extensive space,
and the camp-following, with hackeries, bullocks, horses,
and lines of picketed elephants, had a most imposing and
picturesque effect. There were sixty elephants all told,
some for carrying tents on the march, the rest for beating.
The Rajah had a magnificent elephant. He had been
purchased by an eccentric old gentleman called Jungli
Read, living at Gorakhpur, from Jung Bahadur, who had
sold him because he was very wicked. But Read had
tamed him by kindness, and sold him recently to the
Rajah of Bansi, who wished to possess the finest elephant
in India, for Rs. 10,000, equal then to £1,000. He was
now perfectly gentle and of great beauty ; being highly
fed, his condition was perfect, and the other elephants
looked like babies beside him. The difference between a
lean, bony horse and one in fat condition is great, but
in elephants condition improves the appearance even more
markedly. This great beast was nearly 12 feet high and
broad in proportion. His head was well set on, and his

16

242 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

perfect tusks measured over g feet in length, and were
snow-white and beautifully curved. The track left by his
fore-foot was 6 feet in circumference. He figured after-
wards in durbars, covered with gay hangings and bearing
a silver howdah. To possess such an elephant is the
greatest pride of a Rajah. He was more for show than
use as a shikari elephant, being too valuable and heavy
to risk in swampy land for fear of getting into quicksand,
but he looked well in camp.

Our Commissioner had obtained passes for the party
to go into Nepal, where game and tigers were plentiful.
We marched next morning north-eastwards across a wide,
open maidan, covered with a sea of long grass in the rains,
but now nearly bare, the grass having been all burnt,
except in patches where the water still lay. The line
was an imposing one, the howdahs at equal distances and
pad elephants in between. This day, however, the jungle
was too open for much game. A very fine tiger cat,
nearly as big as a sheep-dog, was shot, a rather rare
specimen of the wild felines, called ' kaksa ' {Felts biverina)*
Black partridge and hares were useful additions to the bag.
Mrs. Lindsay hospitably entertained the party in a large
tent, ready pitched, on our arrival at Biskope, a jungle
village in Nepal. The weather was hot, but the evenings
beautiful.

Major D. was our boss shikari, and a capital good
fellow. He made dispositions for our next day's advance
into the wild and little-known jungles of the Nepal Terai.
Tigers and wild elephants were to be met with, and per-
chance the ugly rhinoceros, besides plenty of smaller
game. The morning was bright, and the line of elephants
was soon in motion, facing across an open plain straight

* Described by Jerdon as frequenting the Nepal Terai ; length
34 inches, tail 12 inches, height 16 inches ; a gray tiger-cat, partly
spotted and barred, and very destructive and fierce.

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 243

for the foot-hills, now about twelve miles distant. In
case of pigs breaking across the plain, as yesterday,
Captain W. and I had ordered our horses to be led behind,
with hog-spears. They came in useful for a bigger bit of
shikar. We had not gone far when we sighted a herd
of twelve great black beasts grazing near a stream.
With my glasses I saw that they were arna, and that one
of them was a very large bull with great black horns.

D y believed they were tame buffaloes until we were

too near them to put out the line of elephants so as to
intercept their flight for a belt of jungle to the east of the
maidan. Presently the herd of arna started to gallop
towards the jungle, cows first, then some bulls following.
The big bull brought up the rear to guard his flock.

W n and I were eager for a gallop, as the ground

was suitable, and, slinging our rifles across our backs, we
started on horseback after them as hard as we could go.
Being quickest at the start and on a very fast mount — my
black Bokhara — I was not long in overhauling the body
of the herd, cutting them off as they lumbered heavily
across our front, making for the forest. The ground was
fair for a clever horse, there being but a few small dry
water-courses to cross. The old cows, however, were not
what I was after, but the big bull ; who, seeing an enemy
approaching his family, put on a spurt, with head down
and tail in the air, making the dust fly, to protect them,
and charged straight at my horse's flank. There was still
a quarter-mile of open ground, which enabled me to
sheer off to his right, on which he headed again for the
herd. This happened twice, and, finding he could not
catch me, he had to gallop on to the left of my course,
following the herd, snorting with rage and getting
decidedly blown. This was my opportunity to dismount
suddenly, and, kneeling down, I let him have both barrels

16 — 2

244 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

of the i2-bore low behind his shoulder. The bullets
struck true, with a heavy thud. This time I had put in
enough powder (8 drachms), and one of the bullets was
a conical 12-bore weighing nearly 2 ounces. He came
on, his eyes flashing fury, straight for his enemy ; but it
was his last effort — the cruel lead had gone surely home.
He swayed from side to side, game to the last, still facing
his foe ; and, snorting out defiance, he blundered bUndly
on to his knees and rolled over quite dead. One always
feels sorrow at the downfall of a noble wild beast who
dies bravely without a groan. His head was a fine trophy,
which now adorns my walls with those of many and
various animals, but I look on this head of the bull arna
as my grandest trophy. The horns measure 8 feet round the
curve and 17 inches in girth. The arna is now, I believe,
very scarce. It is sad to see the last of the indigenous
cattle swept off the globe by the thoughtless pot-hunter,
who shoots females and males alike, and cares nothing
that they have as good a title to exist and inhabit the
world as man has.* The problem of how the numerous
wild animals got there, and whence they came, is one of
the most intensely interesting that we can imagine. If
men, whose origin is equally mysterious, regard so lightly
the reckless slaying of whole species for so-called sport,
or, worse still, for the simple lust of slaying or for petty
gain, it speaks badly for the boasted evolution of the
human species towards a nobler intelligence, a higher
knowledge, or a better life.

The line came up, and I received the hearty congratula-
tions of the party, who admired the great bull. He
measured 9 feet in girth and 11 feet from nose to tail, and
was 15 hands high ; his head weighed 75 sets — 150 pounds,

* The bisons of America and of Europe (aurochs) have been ex-
terminated thus.

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 245

and, being very fat and immensely wide, he must have
weighed over 22 hundredweight. A strong Httle Gurkha
chaprasi undertook to cut off the head and bring it in a
hackery into camp. Stories are told of Gurkhas cutting
off heads of buffaloes with one slice of a kukri. On
this occasion it took about thirty strokes of a very sharp
kukri to sever the head from the body. He got two
chamars to take off the skin, which was immensely thick,
an inch and a half at the neck. When pegged out on the
ground it was big enough to carpet a dining-room. I

gave it to W n, who made a boat of it, by stretching

it on a wooden frame ; and he shot many wild ducks from
it in the jhils near Gorakhpur.

The Nepal Terai is a very extensive and typical Indian
forest. It contains magnificent timber. There are great
stretches of long grass and tangled jungle. Here are the
haunts of all kinds of game, and herds of wild elephants
live undisturbed in its recesses. Tigers are abundant,
and there are but few inhabitants, principally herders of
cattle, which are brought for the winter's grazing. Few
can remain in the rains, when vegetation is rampant,
and the jungle deadly from malaria and impenetrable.
Jung Bahadur, the clever Prince of Nepal, lived at
Khatmandu (pronounced Khatmaroo). He was very
fond of shooting, and kept an immense number of ele-
phants— over 400. Also he had organized a kheda for
catching elephants, in secluded valleys between rocky
precipices, where the wild herds were driven in and en-
closed. He had weU-trained fighting tuskers, and his
elephant-catchers were celebrated for their cunning and
bravery. But he preserved the pohcy of permitting no
Europeans to travel in his territory or cross the frontier.
It was only as a great favour that he issued passes to
British officers hke the Commissioner of Gorakhpur to

246 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

shoot in his Terai for ten or fifteen days. Our party had
an extremely pleasant time, every day beating ravines
with long grass, where the native shikaris said there were
tigers. We shot bears, leopards, sambur deer, chital,
para, and pigs, but our bag of tigers was nil. Jung
Bahadur's tigers were too wary for us, or perhaps the
shikaris were so instructed. Our party was, in my belief,
too large and noisy. We had too many counsellors, and
tigers are not to be got except with much jungle craft
and knowledge of their passes.

A Terai bear — Ursus lahiatus — is a very quaint animal,
with a humped back, long shiny black hair, a long snout
bare at the end, and long white curved claws. He lives
on insects and the eggs of white ants, and roots out the
nests with his claws, sucking up the white juicy eggs with
his long prehensile lips and tongue. Ants' nests are
most abundant over all the Terai. Some places are simply
covered with tall pillars of mud, 4, 6, or 8 feet high, and
almost anywhere on the grassy plain one can see numbers
of these strange pointed erections. They are the same
colour as the ground, and often clasp the stump of a dead
tree, which has been eaten away and converted into mud,
which, after passing through the bodies of the ants, sets
hard on drying. There are also red ants of great size —
over half an inch long. These are fighting ants, and if by
chance you disturb their nest, which swings, made of leaves
stuck together, in the branches of a tree, they will drive you
out of the howdah. They have big nippers, and will lay
hold of your flesh, giving a painful pinch, but it is not any
way poisonous or dangerous.

There are man}'- beautiful birds in the Terai, the jungle
teeming with life. There are great flocks of noisy mynahs,
like starlings, of three or four species, one, peculiar to
Nepal, being a larger bird, black and white, which is often

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 247

kept by the natives tame. It readily learns to talk, and
is an amusing pet. There are a great many parrots, of
seventeen species. There are deep, silent ponds in the
dense forest, surrounded by giant gnarled stems of trees,
on the branches of which gray-necked snake-birds,*
with long, serpent-like necks, sit ready to pounce into the
still water below. Tortoises sit on the bank and sun
themselves. There are kingfishers of several sizes, which
poise themselves on rapid wing and drop like a stone on
the unsuspecting fish, spearing him with their sharp,
strong bills.

The whole surface of the pond is covered with wild
fowl of many kinds. The beautiful garganey ducks and
others sit close together, with white breast and harlequin
patches of bright colour. There are little blue tealf
flitting in wisps, and whistling teal|, besides all the Euro-
pean sorts. A gun being discharged among them produces
enough fowl for a week's eating, and the air is full of clouds
of ducks whizzing and circling all round. They migrate
northwards to the plateau of Tibet for the breeding season,
when the snow melts, and return to southern India in
the winter again. To pick them up, one can charter a
rickety dug-out canoe made of a long tree, which belongs
to the teal-catchers. Most bungalows in Gorakhpur have
a teal house, a circular brick building arched over, with
a pond in the centre neatly shaped in chunam, where the
teal are fattened in absolute darkness for the sahib's
table in the hot weather, when meat will not keep. How
they are netted is a mystery I could never penetrate —
probably it is on the principle of our decoy pipes, though

* Plotus melanogasier, a cormorant-like bird, with a powerful
straight-pointed bill, which swims under water after fish, and usually
when it comes up protrudes only its head above the surface.

t Querquedula circia.

% Nettapus Coromandelianus., whose cry resembles ' Fix bayonets !'

248 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

I never came across any — but there is a well-marked race
or caste of fowlers who live entirely by this trade.

In the cold weather of 1866 I was acting as Deputy-
Conservator, and spent many months in the Gorakhpur
forest, and had ample opportunity of studying the natural
history and flora of the Terai, also collecting specimens
of all the timbers of the forest, and testing their qualities,
and verifying the botany of the locality and the native
names.

Sometimes, in the more open country joining the forest,
black partridge and quail abounded. The latter were
shot on foot in stubble fields with a line of beaters. The
black partridge lived in long grass close to cultivation.
We sat in the howdahs while the men beat up to us, and
got very pretty shooting, as the swift-flying, black-breasted
birds came straight up like driven grouse. They are as large
as a grouse, fat, and excellent eating. A Rajah had sent
the Collector sahib, with whom I had joined camp, two fine
elephants to try as howdah elephants. He stated that
they were good, steady, shikari hatis. So we started one
afternoon to try them, shooting kala titar (black par-
tridge). They seemed a little unsteady when the guns
went off, and stamped and made trumpeting noises to
one another, but were obedient enough to the mahouts,
and we shot a fair number of birds, including a lesser
fiorikin. Towards dusk we were turning towards camp,
when a jackal trotted out of a patch of grass. At this
a shot was fired. The twilight semi-darkness made the
flash visible, and this was too much for the nerves of the
already excited elephants. They set off with trunk and
tail in the air, screeching with terrified alarm, the mahouts
striking the hooks of their ankuses in and shouting '' Dutt,
duttr very much in vain. We in the howdahs were
tossed about, the ground being uneven, and the rapid

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 249

running motion was not agreeable. One felt quite help-
less. In the direction of camp was a grove of half-grown
mango-trees ; through this we crashed. Branches swished
by our heads, and we strove to ward off the lighter ones,
while heavier boughs were cracked off against the teak
frames of the howdahs. Luckily, neither girths nor wood-
work, well laced together with canework, gave way, and
we arrived in camp, having come a mile in about five
and a half minutes. The difficulty then was to stop the
elephants or get them to lie down, which they entirely
refused to do. However, by bringing up some other steady
elephants, which surrounded them, the ladies of the party
succeeded in getting safely on to the others' pads, and
so were dismounted none the worse for the adventure,
which might have been a serious one. We stuck to our
own shikari elephants after that. Old Luckmee, a very
gentle female, was as steady as a rock. Her old mahout,
who put her age at seventy years, was never done singing
her praises. ' If she was entirely eaten up by a lion,
then,' he declared, ' she would not move. She would let
me drive her and obey the words dutt (stop), dutt dutt
(lie down), mail (get up), mail mail (go on).' A kick of
the toe on the side of the head to right or left she an-
swered as quickly as ever a well-trained charger to the
motion of the bridle.

The dear old mahout was as faithful as the elephant,
and never defrauded his charge of a chapati more than
the legal number, one in twelve, which used to be brought
every evening to the tent door and piled in a heap, about
10 sers (20 pounds) of flour made into round, flat cakes.
There was also an allowance of ghee brought on a large
leaf. Each of the chapatis received a smear of the ghee,
and old Luckmee appeared to count the number — eleven —
she was entitled to. If by any chance one fell short, she

250 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

would express her disapproval by tapping on the ground
and trumpeting. Old Koda Bux, the mahout, was very
attentive to his charge in the matter of medicine {dawai)
for its poor feet, consisting of a bottle of arrack, or, better
still, ' brandy sharab ' and a small bit of opium got by
the sahib's orders in the nearest bazaar. Luckmee's feet
often got sore and cracked, and these remedies were quite
unfailing in their effect, but not on the hati's feet. Most
elephants are good-natured, and will not use their strength
to hurt even small children, which are safely left in their
charge. A few are really dangerous and spiteful. There
was one in our line of pad elephants, which everyone was
warned not to go near. He had a very deaf mahout,
whom he obeyed. One day, when all the line of elephants
had come to a river and were drinking and splashing their
sides with deluges of cooling water, the old deaf mahout
got down to drink at the water's edge. This ' budmash '
elephant began to think it a fine chance to go for a solitary
chaprasi who was sitting on his back. Quietly feeling
back over the pad with his trunk for the wretched man,
who climbed back as far out of its reach as he could get,
the brute then gave a vicious shake of his hind quarters
to try and dislodge the man, who shouted to the mahout
to save him. This went on several times before the deaf
man could be made to hear, and he was only just in time
to prevent the chaprasi from being seized and trampled
to death.

As an instance of the extraordinary instinct of ele-
phants may be mentioned a striking case of their power
of finding their way, by tapping or feeling the path with
the trunk, and recognising any path they have previously
traversed. On one occasion we crossed a very wide
river on going out in the morning to beat the jungle at
the other side. There was a wide expanse of sand and

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 251

shingle fully a mile across, with shallow water flowing
perhaps a quarter of a mile wide. It needed caution
to pick our way so as to avoid quicksands and keep on
the hard ground, and a very sagacious old elephant was
put in front to lead the way. All the others followed in
her tracks. We were all day beating through a very
extensive jungle of khair, babul, and other trees, and lost
our way, so that it was night before we succeeded in
getting back to the river and finding the ford. On leaving
the tree-covered bank the old elephant was our guide.
Before us was a broad waste of sand and glistening
water, just visible in the darkness, but absolutely nothing
to indicate the direction of our route ; yet the old
elephant brought us out exactly in the footsteps she had
made in the morning.

On one occasion our camp was on the bank of the
Gandak river, which issues from the hills to the eastward
of the Gorakhpur district, dividing it from Bengal. This
is a fine tributary of the Ganges, rising under the peaks of
Dawalagiri in Nepal, and one branch of it flowing past
Khatmandu. It joins its waters to the Ganges at Patna.
The river is about a mile wide when its bed is filled during
the rains, but in the cold season it is about a quarter that
width, flowing rapidly, and not more than a few feet deep,
cutting its way through beds of sand and well-rolled
gravel in ever-changing windings. Its cool waters are
quite transparent, and there are varied reaches of high
banks with trees overhanging, or sandy flats and islands
out in the wide stream. These are favourite places for
the long-nosed crocodiles, ghariyals or gavials, to bask
in the sun. As many as twenty could be counted every
morning, lying like great logs of trees about 250 yards
from the tents. Being anxious to secure a fine head, we
had several shots at them. It needs very careful placing

252 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

of the bullet exactly where the neck joins the body to
kill a specimen. If hit anywhere in the body, they simply
glide off into the stream and are seen no more. Having
watched some time for a very large one, he was success-
fully plugged with a hardened bullet in the neck, and the
spine paralyzed. Elephants were sent out with strong
ropes to tug the monster to land, and other elephants
hauled him up the steep bank. He measured 22 feet in
length, and his skin made a fine piece of leather. The
gavial is a very harmless beast and will not attack a man.
But the ' muggur ' preys upon every live beast he can
catch and pull down, and will crunch and swallow in
his great maw any animal. In the sluggish deep waters
of the tributaries of the Rapti and Gumti near Gorakhpur
muggurs chiefly abound. In fact, even close to Gorakh-
pur there were a great many. A retriever dog fetching
wild fowl from the ponds and pools was almost certain
to be taken down if swimming in a deep place, and
valuable dogs were thus lost. Native children and calves
and goats were commonly seized and dragged in, and all
dead bodies of Hindus thrown into the river were simply
devoured by the muggurs. In cholera times, when the
pilgrims are returning from the great annual mela, or fair,
and the poor sick people are brought to the water's edge
in hundreds, ready to be thrown in when they die, the
muggurs have fine times and grow fat.

The regular work consisted in dividing the forest into
divisions according to a ' working plan,' the ground to be
worked over in a certain number of years. The forest
was already full of sal-trees, but many of them had been
spoilt by tapping for gum, called ral, and only the worst
crooked stems remained after the good trees had been cut.
There were, however, plenty of seedlings on the ground,
and it was decided first of all to thin out all the bad stems

FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 253

which would not grow into good timber, and leave nothing
standing but straight young stems. The native demand
for the crooked poles, called ballis, was good, as lately all
cutting had been prohibited. Thus a considerable income
accrued, supplemented by dues for grazing cattle, and
the expense of thinning and cutting away creepers, which
were choking the young sals, was amply covered. The
prevention of fires, so as to allow the seedlings to get ahead,
was also instituted with good results.

In the Survey Report the average number of trees per
acre is given :

Sal seedlings - - '95

Crooked old trees - - 52

Copse shoots - - -in

258
Other varieties - - - 1 20

378

254 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

^^lir

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XVIII

FOREST PRODUCTS

The principal useful trees in these forests comprise the
following :

1. Sal or Sakoo. Shorea robusta.

2. Saj or Asna. Pentapteva tonientosa.
A very straight, fine tree.

3. Kharma (Haldu). Nauclea cordifem.
A giant forest tree.

4. Semal. Bombax heptaphyllnm.

The cotton-tree. Giant columnar stem with great buttresses ;
light timber.

5. Jamun. Syzigmm jambolaniim.

6. Mahua. Bassia latifolia.

Very fine, large-leaved, spreading tree of considerable value.
The succulent flower is used as fruit.

7. Agai. Conocarpiis latifolia.

A remarkable tree with long, pear-shaped leaves 18 inches long.

8. Bhela. Semecarptis anacardium.
The marking-nut-tree. Acrid juice.

9. Khimbi. Careya arborea.
Bark used for gun matches.

10. Tendu or Abnus. Diospyvus melanoxylon.
Ebony. Heart-wood produces black ebony.

1 1 . Piar. Buchanania latifolia.
Large round leaves ; useful timber.

12. Panrar. Lagerstramia parviflora.
Timber used for buggy-shafts.

13. Bahira. Tevminalia Belevica.

A large, straight forest tree with white timber.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XVIII 255

14. Toon. Cednla toona.

Indian mahogany. Timber fine, well coloured, used for furniture.

15. Imli. Tamarindiis Indica.

Tamarind. Very beautiful, large stem, eatable pods.

16. Nim. Melia Azadevachta.
Beautiful ash-leaved, shady tree.

17. Burgad. Fictis Indica.
Banian.

18. Pipal. Ficits religiosa.
Sacred tree.

19. Paker. Ficus venosa.

These three figs grow to an enormous size.

20. Pulas or Dhak. Butea froiidosa.
Stunted. Flame-coloured flowers.

2 1 . Kikar. A cacia A rabica.
Camel-thorn. Produces gum Arabic.

22. Khair. Acacia catechu.
Bark produces catechu.

23. Bel. y^igle marmelos.
Medicinal fruit.

24. Sissoo. Dalbergia sissoo.

Very hard wood, most useful in India for spokes of wheels.

25. Bans. Bambusa stricta.

Solid bamboo, used for lances and slicks ; very strong.

26. Bambusa tulda.

Giant bamboo ; grows 70 feet long ; used for a thousand pur-
i poses ; hollow, very strong. There are over fifteen different
\ species of bamboo in India. There is an immense export of

J bamboo floated down the rivers.

27. Phoenix dactilifera.

The date-palm. Grows well everywhere.

256 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

28. Phoenix silvestris.

Wild date-palm. Very common.

29. Tar. Borassiis flahelliformis.

The toddy-palm or Palmyra-tree. There are some fine specimens
at Gorakhpur, growing to a surprising height for so slender a
stem, with fine leafy head of great fronds. In its native
forests in Southern India it is, next to the date-palm, the
most valuable tree, and is used as timber for rafters split out
of the stem. It is nearly the strongest timber known, hard
and black. Its leaves are plaited into mats and baskets, and
make paper for writing on. The top is tapped to make sugar
and toddy. It is a beautiful feature in the Oriental landscape.
It is very slow growing, and has a sappy pith inside ; outside
it is as hard as iron.

Of palms there are the cocoanut-palm {Cocos nuciferd) ;
the sago-palm {Arenga saccharifera) ; in Bengal three species
of palms : Corypha umbraailifera, C. ialiera, C. Gebanga —
all useful for numerous purposes. The areca-palm {Areca
catechu) is the most slender of all, growing to 80 feet high,
with a stem only a few inches in girth. This and the cocoa-
nut only grow near the sea. In Upper India palms are
comparatively rare, and do not, as is supposed, always
adorn the landscape ; but they grow well wherever they
have been permitted to remain — in parks and gardens and
some jungles, where they have been planted.

30. Bet. Calamus Rot an g.

A genus of palms, Calamus, of which there are fifty-eight known
species. It has many representatives in India, the Rattan or
Malacca cane being the stoutest. The more slender sorts —
C. gracilis and C. scipioitem — abound on the edges of rivers
in the Terai and the Assam hills, the ropes winding in tangled
coils several hundred feet long, all armed with thorns and
furnished with graceful, palm-like leaves. From these canes
the celebrated suspension bridges of Sylhet are made, being
often alive and actually growing while spanning great torrents.
The split-cane-work for chair-bottoms and furniture, known
all over the world, is woven from this material.

The above are a few of the most remarkable forest products
deserving notice which abound in the jungles of India.

CHAPTER XIX

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA AND BUNDELKHAND

In January, 1866, my duties as Forest Surveyor of the
North-West Provinces led me to the districts of Jhansi
and LaHtpur, where my instructions from the Secretary
to Government, North - West Provinces, Pubhc Works
Department, were to explore all the forests to be found,
and make a forest survey of them on the scale of 4 inches
to the mile, showing the area under timber, and giving a
schedule of the number of trees per acre, first, second,
third, and fourth class, and other information. The
railway was not then completed to Gwalior, and travelling
was by night by dak gharry from Agra to Gwalior.

I arrived at the cantonment of Morar, a wide-spreading,
neatly laid-out station of the British army, with beautiful
straight roads shaded by bright green mango and other
trees, barracks and bungalows peeping among the foliage.
The stern old fortress of Gwalior is visible, dominating
the extensive native town. It stands on a rocky table-
mountain some 200 feet above the level, rising sheer up
out of the plain, on all sides a solid perpendicular wall of
rock, only accessible by the zigzag road cut in the face
of the hill, where, perched upon the top, stands the cele-
brated old gateway in the fort, surmounted by blue
enamelled domes glistening in the sun. That this appar-
ently impregnable fortress has been twice taken by British

17

258 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

assault — first by Wellesley in the Maratha war, and
secondly by Sir Hugh Rose in the Mutiny — speaks won-
ders for the pluck of our soldiers. After its recapture
from the mutineers, and the reinstatement of the faithful
Sindhia, the fort was garrisoned by H.M.'s 52nd Regi-
ment, whose hospitality I had previously enjoyed. The
mess-room in the old Maratha palace had a most inter-
esting outlook through a large window in the stern old
walls, facing the native city, which lies in the plain below,
buried in green foliage, with the roofs and minarets peep-
ing through the trees. At night the twinkling of numerous
lights and the hum of a teeming population contrasted
with the strains of the regimental band playing in the old
courts of the palace.

Having procured camels and tents, my march through
the jungle districts of Bundelkhand commenced. They
were wild districts, and there were many stories told among
the villagers of Tantia Topi and his followers having fled
to these jungles and made their last stand.

The Jhansi division, now under a Commissioner, in-
cludes the districts of Jhansi, Lalitpur, and Jalaun,
which formerly contained extensive forests ; but, owing
apparently to the natives having worked the iron deposits
found in many places, the timber had been cut down, and
little remained but scrubby bushes and long grass,
which covered extensive areas. These are called dhangs,
and are used for grazing cattle and cutting grass and fire-
wood for use at Jhansi.

There is a large area of country waste and capable of
growing fine timber. Teak thrives well, and is found along
the banks of the Betwa river, but no fine trees exist,
except the usual fruit-trees, mahuas and mangoes, which
have been protected by the natives ; also the pipal and
banian. There is no object in nature more venerable

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 259

and charming than a banian-tree, with its huge fantastic
stem, and roots hanging down like ropes, many of them
struck again in the soil, forming, with the spreading
branches, rows of cloister-like pillars and arches, beneath
which a whole regiment might camp in deep, cool shade.

The jungles proper, however depleted of useful timber,
only need time and protection to produce a fine growth
of young trees, such as teak {Tectona grandis), sissoo,
saj, and other kinds. The beautiful siassa {D alter gia
lati folia), or Bombay rose^wood^ is also indigenous, and
ebony (Diospyrus) is very common, though only in the
sapling stage — an extraordinary black, broad, leathery-
leaved tree. The march to Jhansi was through a jungly,
open plain, with villages interspersed, and game of all
sorts was often seen — antelope (hiran), gazelle (chinkara),
blue bull {nil ghao), spotted deer {chital), and other game,
including the beautiful little four-homed deer {chausingha),
hares, pea-fowl, and partridges.

My camp is pitched near a village under an enormous
pipal-tree. The camels, which have carried tents and
baggage, are lying tethered by a neighbouring tree, and
are munching their bhusa of barley straw, occasionally
grunting or gurgling in a sleepy way. The horses are
tied to pegs before and behind, and are being groomed by
their syces, while the grass-cutters empty before them
their loads of diib grass, scraped up by the roadsides with
an iron digging tool, roots and all, from which the dust is
well shaken.

The cool evening shadows rapidly lengthen, and the
sun disappears hke a crimson bowl under the horizon in
a blaze of scarlet mist ; darkness comes on at once, and
the still air as quickly falls in temperature from about
80° to 40^. This is the time to guard against the chill
which produces fever. One soon finds the necessity of

17 — 2

36o THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

keeping in the heat of the body by wrapping oneself in
a long Kashmiri choga, well padded or of heavy camel's
hair, over the warmest English woollen garments one
possesses. The luxury of a fire at the tent door can some-
times be enjoyed when in the jungle, but not always.
After dinner, taken by the light of candles in glass shades,
and a cheroot, one soon turns in between thick blankets,
and sleeps the sleep of the tired. One is seldom disturbed
except by the occasional growl and bark of the dogs
chained not far off, and the rush to the door of the spaniels,
which sleep in the tent, ready to keep away all intruders.
The servants, sleeping wrapped in their blankets and
rezais under the verandah, form a sufficiently watchful
barrier against thieves or prowhng pariah dogs, which
otherwise would infallibly invade the premises. Two
large Brinjara hounds, Bigli and Begum, and a powerful
Scotch deerhound, Effie, in charge of Munnoo, the
mehtar, would, if loosed, make short work of the most
daring robbers, who, knowing what the dangers might be,
take good care to keep clear of such a sahib's camp.
Otherwise, in these jungly districts, night dacoits might
be quite readily in evidence. It was wise also to sleep
with a loaded revolver under one's pillow, and guns and
rifles tied to the tent-pole handy. The marvellous stories
one hears of naked, well-oiled black athletes creeping into
tents and effecting clever robberies, and of ladies waking
and finding nooses placed round their necks, and the
robbers escaping and leaving no trail, except perhaps a
murderous knife dropped on the dari, are too well known
to be repeated. The actual incidents are, however, some-
times more incredible than the stories, and one does wisely
to own a few really wicked dogs, and to carry as few
valuables as possible when marching.

The habit of going to bed at dark necessarily implies

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDL\ 261

an early awakening and a start at daybreak, or before, so
as to get the march over before the sun, our natural
enemy in India, gets too high. Even now, in January,
his rays are unpleasantly hot at ten o'clock ; and in
February and March a very thick sola topi must be worn
after 8 a.m. if one doesn't want to get a sunstroke, which,
once got, perhaps disables a man for life. In a few minutes
the tent and trunks are loaded on the camels, and we are
off for the march to the next camping ground at a village
some fifteen or twenty miles away across country, where
perhaps there is no road, only a footpath from village to
village, or through the jungle, where the cattle have made
tracks leading from their night's lair to grazing grounds
in the forest. They are now being driven out from the
village, the cows, which have already been milked,
lowing to their calves left behind, an old black buffalo
cow with shiny back and long, back-drooping horns lead-
ing the way, big wooden or iron bells hanging from their
necks to keep the herd together. One can hear the tank-
tonk of the quaint, deep-sounding notes a long way off,
as they move slowly and graze on the green shoots
springing from the roots of burnt grass.

At the margin of the forest, abutting on the bright
green of corn-fields, a herd of spotted deer is still grazing.
The graceful horns of a noble stag are raised for an
instant, as he gazes at the intruders before darting into
the thicket. In the open plain, crossing some ridge of
bare ground with thorn bushes, a couple of chinkara are
moving slowly to take shelter behind some rocks. As
some venison for the larder is in request, we beckon to the
syce, who trots along behind carrying a light rifle, accom-
panied by the dog-bo};' with the three hounds. Presently
we have a stalk from the rocks, and get a shot at the best
buck at 130 yards as he stands undisturbed. He is hit,

262 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

but not badly wounded ; the dogs are loosed, and, mount-
ing, we are off in pursuit, and the dogs strain every nerve
to overtake him as he darts along the ridge. We keep
him in view till he is run into, and venison is secured, and
a nice pair of horns cur\dng like a lyre, with slender points.
The chinkara [Gazella Bennetti) , or ' ravine deer ' of sports-
men, is almost the same as the Arabian gazelle, which
figures in Oriental fairy tales as the pet of the harem.
It is common in Central India, always frequenting open
ground, where ravines and thorn-bushes exist, in small
herds of two to four together.

The forest is traversed and mapped, the timbering noted,
and other observations made, and we get into camp in
time for breakfast. The afternoon is perhaps occupied
by a ride round on a long-striding sawari camel with a
saddle holding two, the wooded country being sketched
with the map and prismatic compass, a gun or rifle being
always in the sling and ready for use if game turns up.

We generally encamp near some village, where the
inhabitants cultivate the lands reclaimed from jungle.
They are often fortified, with very ancient and crumbling
mud-walls, and usually there is a picturesque temple and
tank, where the rain-water has been held up by ancient
embankments or bands.

They all have their headmen, sometimes a tahsildar
or native tax-collector, and zamindars or landowners,
who let out the fields to rayais or cultivators. There is
also the baniya or shopkeeper class, the members of
which are also money-lenders, who advance the money
to sow the crops, in cash or partly in kind, thus making
a double profit and becoming rich. They mostly, as in
other countries, buy up the land and become zamindars.
The Bundelas are a fine, tall, and handsome race. They
dress in the brightest of colours and wear big puggarees.

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 263

The women, who work very hard in the fields, are to be
seen near the villages dressed in the usual Hindu costume,
wearing coloured saris of strong cotton cloth, stamped
with Grecian border-patterns, which fall in the most
graceful folds. The limbs are draped from the waist
down with double folds, and the loose end is then thrown
over the head and shoulders as a veil, but the face is
seldom concealed. Crowds of women or girls come at
evening time to the tanks or wells to draw water, which
they carry away to their houses in round red earthenware
chatties poised on the head. The carriage and gliding
movements of some of these oval-faced dark beauties,
as they bear their heavy burdens away, is admirable to
the artistic eye. The shops in the bazaar, where flour
and vegetables and ghee are bargained for, are quite
busy and picturesque places. The native artificers of
all kinds and castes, working at their simple trades of
lohar (blacksmith), chamar (leatherworker), and barhai
(carpenter), using the same tools that were used at the
time Solomon's temple was built, are to be seen in most
village communities, besides cotton-spinners and carders
of black wool, and weavers who make the universal black
blankets, which every coolie carries, in primitive looms.
There are shepherds {hheri wallas), who take the village
flocks out to graze; a simple and patient race, clad
in their own shiny brown skins, with blanket and stick,
living each with his flock of sheep, mostly black shaggy
little animals, and black-and-white goats, which are fine,
tall, and picturesque fellows with big horns and long
hair.

The cultivated land in Bundelkhand is mostly quite
flat, with a deep black soil, known as cotton soil. It is
an alluvial bed of black mud, in which are grains of white
calcareous sand, and, being of any depth, is most fertile.

264 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

In the rains rice is grown on its wet surface, and in the dry
weather it cracks everywhere into a network of deep
cracks, down which a horse may lose his leg. But they
seldom do, being far too wideawake.

The plains of India, which grow two crops of food, and
also cotton, flax, and wool for clothing, are very fertile.
As the people do not require animal food, the soil can
support an immensely greater population than that of
northern countries, which grow only one crop in the year,
and where most of the area is required to support cattle
and sheep for the diet of a carnivorous race of men. It
is a remarkable thing that the great alluvial plains of
India, which have been cultivated for thousands of years,
do not require manure, and will grow crops without any-
thing being returned to the land. The manure of the
cattle, even, is burned. The great heat of the sun seems
to draw up plant food from the black under-soil, and the
very heavy rains restore ammonia to the earth. The
modern farming systems of England, which cannot sup-
port its population (more than two-thirds of the food-
supply being imported, and most of the manure run into
the sea), are by comparison very wasteful. That we are
now drawing on America and the plains of India for
linseed to fatten our cattle, and on Chili for deposits to
manure our exhausted soil, does seem an unnatural
expedient, and not the permanent system on which a
self-contained country should depend.

It is interesting to observe the old, old process of culti-
vation still flourishing in the Indian villages. The plough,
slowly crossing the unfenced plain, is made of a piece of
rough timber which goes between the bullocks to the
yoke across their necks, the ploughshare consisting of
another piece of crooked timber, pointed forward with an
iron tip, which burrows through the loose soil, casting it up

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 265

at each side. A naked man follows, holding the handles
and shouting to his oxen. The very modern invention
for sowing corn to be seen at our agricultural shows,
and called a drilling machine, has its very ancient proto-
type in the shape of a bamboo funnel attached to the
plough, down which the seed corn is carefully dropped
from the hand of a little black boy who walks beside, and
delivered under the coulter. Surely there is nothing new
under the sun. Without water the winter crops could
not grow ; wells, therefore, have been sunk in every field,
and bullocks are driven round in a circle, working a primi-
tive wheel, over which passes a rope belt with little red
earthen chatties, which come slowly up from the clear
cool well, dripping and full of the life-giving fluid, which
is upset into a trough, and runs in its meandering channel
to every part of the field. The same wheels exist in
Egypt, and the broken pots or chatties are found
40 feet below the surface in the Nile deposit, proving the
vast antiquity of this contrivance. In every cultivated
field in the plains of Central India such wells exist, the
clear water being found abundantly in the black, spongy
cotton soil at depths varying from 10 feet. The weirdest
music, caused by the grinding together of the polished
wooden cogs as the oxen go round, is heard all day on every
side in different keys, and often at night — continuous
moaning noises, varied by squeaks and groans.

At length the ancient fortress of Jhansi looms against
the sky, with its bastioned waUs and very antique citadel.
The walls were 30 feet high all round the city, which was
bombarded by Sir Hugh Rose in 1858 and taken by assault.
Major Baillie most hospitably entertained me, and showed
me the place where the escalade party had placed their
ladders. Rushing in with a company of the 86th Regiment
and some sappers under a heavy fire, they clambered on to

266 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

the parapet and effected a lodgment on the wall, fighting
hand to hand with swarms of the Rani's sepoys. The
postern gate in the tower was then opened, and Sir Hugh
Rose came in. The young subaltern of Royal Engineers
who was first over the parapet, using his revolver and
sword to good purpose, as described by Major Baillie,
an eye-witness, was my brother, now Major-General
C. E. Webber, C.B.

Our route lay southward towards Lalitpur, where
forests are more prevalent, with rocky ridges rising out of
the plain, and much ravine country covered with low
thorny scrub, also wooded flats along the Betwa and
Dhasan rivers, where teak and sal exist and other forest
trees ; many of which have been hacked about and muti-
lated by the natives, but a good deal is capable of growing
good timber. There are some very curious ruins in the
forest, near the Betwa river, of the deserted ancient city
of Orchha. At one time this was a considerable place,
with a fine wall abutting at each end on the river, and
partly on an island, now overgrown with jungle. It is
uninhabited, the Rajah and his people having removed
elsewhere. It is now a city of the dead, judging by the
immense number of Mohammedan graves to be seen in
the ancient cemetery. They are neatly constructed of
white material or stone, aU facing the same direction (east
and west). The Orchha jungles are the property of the
Rajah, and fine teak timber is found in considerable
quantity. The stream in the dry season is fordable,
but in the rains it is a big river, running between banks of
a good height, and impassable.

The Government, since the annexation of the country,
had been very neglectful as to the forests, not only allow-
ing the villagers to cut down their own timber recklessly,
but permitting the entire area of forest, of which there

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 267

is a considerable quantity* unoccupied by villages, to
be devastated by the cutting of the best trees and the
burning of charcoal. The price of timber for use in
house building and for firing was, in the Jhansi and
Lalitpur cantonments, exceedingly high, and even hallis
or poles, used in the villages for all purposes, were
very dear and almost unprocurable. There is a great
quantity of iron ore in the districts, which was formerly
worked by the native lohars. This accounts for the
scarcity of timber in a country which is one-third jungle.
The native rajahs were more careful of their forest
rights, and preserved the teak and sissoo and other
useful timbers carefully, so that in the Orchha jungles
there were plenty of fine trees ; and no doubt could be
entertained that only conservation was needed to restore
considerable areas of natural forest, now cut down, to a
state of valuable timber production.

Trees in this climate, where great heat and an immense
rainfall characterize the six summer months, grow very
rapidly, and, if left alone, increase to immense size, as
witness the enormous fruit-trees near villages and the
sacred banians and pipal-trees. On the rocky ridges
which rise out of the alluvial plain, crossing the country
mostly in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction,
excellent kinds of hard -wood timbers grow naturally,
and only require to be given a chance. Ebony {abnus)'f
rosewood {siassa),^ and sinse,§ besides saj, mahua, and
kahua, are indigenous, and teak would grow freely every-
where. Bamboos of several sorts, solid ones 12 feet long,
and hollow large ones 30 feet and up to 70 feet long some-

* Jhansi district, 1,029,295 acres, of which 385,723 acres are waste
land, including 57,862 forest,
t Diospyros vielanoxylon.
% Dalbergia latifolia.
§ Dalbergia oojainensis.

268 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

times, used for a thousand purposes, are all over the
country ; but hacked about and over cut, and not given a
chance to flourish. The villagers are not ignorant as
to the value of forests, but where everyone cuts what he
can, have simply been anxious to cut their share ; and
where the Government has neglected the conservation
of the timber, the wasteful example is followed by every
individual. Hence the importance to the welfare of a
country of forest management being undertaken by the
State. One day in open forest I came across a most
astonishing object — the huge pyramidal stem of an un-
known tree, about 50 feet in girth and about 40 feet high,
with a shiny, flesh-like bark, and a tuft of greeneries at
top like a very large carrot. This was the baobab-tree
{Adansonia digitata) — a most surprising, if not to say
beautiful, tree, reminding one of a gigantic bottle-gourd.
I was glad there was only one, as a forest of them would
have been too overpowering. How it got there, stuck up
by itself, was a mystery unsolved. Perhaps some bird
carried the seed, flying from Africa. Its timber is said
to be porous and light and quite useless.

In these provinces, as in most parts of India, are to be
found a race of jungle men, supposed to be the remnants
of the indigenous inhabitants of prehistoric times. Here
they are called ' Sahariyas,' and do not live in any fixed
village, but crouch in bamboo and grass chappars or
sheds, which they can construct very rapidly an5rwhere
in the forest. They are a poor, half -starved and very
black race, living on a very small grain, a kind of millet.
They can cut down the largest trees with their small
hatchets. But they are a monkey-like race, and prefer
to cut off the branches, climbing with prehensile toes
like apes. It is astonishing to see a man standing upright
at the top of a lofty tree, grasping the boughs with his

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 269

feet only, and taking a view over the surrounding
country to mark the direction he wishes to go. I have
had guides through the forest who occasionally went
through this performance where the jungle was very
thick and the view obstructed. They make remarkable
guides, and their tracking powers are unerring. The
Sahariyas are very destructive to timber production,
as they have practised for ages the pernicious dahya
system of cultivation, which has now been prohibited
by forest law. The custom is to hack off the branches of
all the standing trees in a likely locality. The boughs
are spread over the ground, and when dried and withered
by the sun they are set fire to, and every vestige of
vegetation burnt, except the mutilated stems of the old
trees, which are scorched by the fire. This is done just
prior to the commencement of the rains. The ground
is then covered with the ashes of the timber, which
manures it sufficiently to grow a miserable crop of millet,
called kutki and tili. The seed is only scattered on the
ground, no ploughing or cultivation being attempted.
When this crop is saved the Sahariyas move on to another
square of the forest, and begin lopping the branches for
the next year's crop, returning to the same ground only
once in ten or twelve years, when a new supply of branches
has grown. The mutilated stems are spoilt for all
timber purposes, and become knotted, gnarled, and hollow,
and occupy the ground which would grow good timber.

The Sahariyas are a very different race from the Hindu
and Mohammedan conquerors of the country^ who, as in
other countries, have taken all the best lands, and driven
the aboriginal races into the jungles and poorer hilly
districts. They have no caste, speak very little Hindu-
stani, and have a language of their own. They are quite
as clever at their own business as the Hindu rayat, and far

270 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

cleverer in jungle-lore and hunting and tracking, and
fashioning of implements out of hard wood. Their
women, who have few wants and live in the jungle, are
good dressers of skins, and weave mats of bamboo, and
make themselves a sort of thatch of leaves on a bamboo
frame, which they carry over their backs in the rains to
keep off the tropical downpour. They each possess a
hatchet, which is stuck in their only garment, a cloth
round their loins, and are as dirty and black as other
savages. They worship the same fairies of the rock,
flood, or forest, which our ancestors in Europe reverenced.
They are a simple, well-disposed people, not treacherous
or cruel or given to robbery ; at least, one does not see
any S3^mptoms of those characteristics.

There is another interesting casteless race of the wander-
ing t3'pe, which exists in the jungles of the Central
Provinces. They are the Brinjaras, corresponding to our
gypsies or Zingari. They are met travelling with carts,
donkeys, and ponies, and always dogs of their own
peculiar breed, as swift as greyhounds, and powerful-
jawed, courageous, and fierce. The Brinjaras are said
to eat anything they can devour, jackal's flesh preferably,
which their dogs easily procure. The latter will tackle
and slay the great jungle wolf, and pull down nilghai
easily. The two Brinjara dogs which I possessed, Bigli
and Begum, were worth anything to bring big game to
bag, and most clever at cutting off a wounded buck,
hunting by scent as well as by sight. They were quite
as fast as the Scotch deerhound Effie, but very different
in disposition, being sulky and treacherous with strangers
or other dogs, though faithful to their masters ; whereas
Effie was demonstratively friendly and affectionate, and
would not hurt anyone. They always went for the hind-
legs of a deer, whereas Efiie went for the throat. They

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 271

would make short work of a strange pariah ; if he made
himself at all obnoxious and then ran away, they were
after him as a coward, and gave him one chop across the
loins with their vice-like jaws, which generally did for
him.

Lalitpur is a large district south of Jhansi, \\dth con-
siderable forest tracts by the rivers, where teak is in-
digenous. At Deogarh is a very curious old fort enclosing
a tableland of about 100 acres, overlooking the Betwa,
quite in ruins and overgro\Mi with jungle. The tank still
remains, and is covered with wild fowl. At Dudhi is a
beautiful Jain temple of great antiquity and quite perfect ;
the carved figures in the doorways and over the walls
are in very hard stone, and finished with great taste,
displaying most spirited processions of females and
ancient deities. There are rocky hills with a considerable
variety of trees, but there has been much destruction of
timber to supply the iron smelting which was carried on
by the native lohars at Nuthi Khera and elsewhere. The
old mining pits are met with, where very rich dark-red
ore abounds, but are now scarcely worked. The manu-
facture of catechu from the khair-tree is still carried
on by the natives, and gums and frankincense are ex-
tracted from the trees.

In the ravine districts of Lalitpur, where wolves were
not uncommon and sometimes carried off children from
the outskirts of villages, I came across a band of four
great wolves one day in bare, broken ground. Looking
over the edge of a ridge, I sighted the band in the next
hollow, engaged on the carcase of a deer they had doubt-
less run down. Instantly pulling myself back under
cover of some thorn-bushes, I watched them at about
100 yards, waiting for my rifle to be brought up by my
shikari, as I had only a shot-gun in my hand. They were

272 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

too busy to look up. Formidable-looking beasts, with
long gray hair and bushy tails and big, ugly heads and
teeth white and glistening, they tore frantically at the
bleeding carcase and snarled at one another. How I
longed for the rifle, but it did not come. The wind was
not unfavourable, and I crouched, breathlessly watching
and not moving my head ; but wolves' eyes are pretty
sharp, and one of them must have seen, or heard, or smelt
that danger was near ; and, leaving the dinner he was
enjoying, he began to slink off with the peculiar skulking
motion of the surly wolf, not going away straight, but
circling around to make observations, yet giving no
warning to the others. Soon another one disappeared,
seeming to vanish. The man with the rifle was coming
blundering along. Beckoning him to crouch, I at last
got the rifle, and again peeped over the ridge, rifle cocked
and ready. The brutes were gone. Walking stealthily
forward, I searched the ground for sign of them, but
could see nothing, though they were stalking me from
different sides. At last, seeing two men advancing, one
gave me a chance as he slunk behind some bushes. I
fired, and the bullet struck the branches and missed its
mark. I did not see them any more, and was glad it was
early morning and not late at night, as four wolves to-
gether are not an agreeable sight. They look so huge
from the amount of hair they carry.

The same day a native brought noe four young wolves
in a basket. He had found them in a burrow, and dug
them out for the Government reward. They were very
fearless-looking, bright -eyed little hairy fellows, with
sharp noses and ears erect and ready for anything. They
were about twenty-four days old probably, and already
knew a lot. Having heard of wolves rearing babies, I
thought it a good opportunity to return the compliment

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 273

and rear some wolves ; so I procured milk, and the mehtar
tried to feed them. They were hungry enough, and lapped
a little. But next day on the march the basket was put on
a camel, and the sun was hot, and the poor little innocents
did not like the motion of the camel, and howled like
puppies. They say that dogs do not perspire, which I
think is a fiction, but I know for certain that wolves do,
for these little beggars when taken off the camel were quite
wet, though the day was just the usual winter tempera-
ture with a bright sun — hot by day, cold by night.
Anyhow, it did not agree with infant wolves, and one died.
We gave the others all possible attention, and milk
ad lib., and had them carried by a man ; but they did not
appreciate our kindness, and looked more and more
miserable, and howled half the night, so had to be
put an end to. At evening a wolf came about the camp
and was seen, causing much alarm among the servants.
I watched for her with rifle and shot-gun, but never got
a shot. It may have been the mother following her young
family. We were not sorry to be rid of the juvenile
wolves.

The march through the districts of Jhansi and Lalitpur
occupied three months of interesting exploration. The
climate was quite beautiful up to March, when the sun
by day began to be strong.

The route lay through Talbehat, where one meets the
salt hedge. I breakfasted with a Mr. Graham, who was
on duty patrolling the hedge. This extraordinary barrier
was here composed of thorn-bushes, not planted, but just
heaped in a long line some 6 feet high, which an animal
cannot easily burst through. It is indeed a long line,
extending aU across India, so as to enclose the salt-
producing region in Rajputana and other States. The
salt which was there obtained was carried, on ponies and

18

274 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

carts and camels, in caravans which took the salt by
various routes to the south and east of India. It had to
cross the salt barrier somewhere in British territory, and
pay the duty ; by which a very large revenue was obtained,
with a minimum amount of hardship to the poor, as it
was divided minutely over so large a population.

There were chaukis (posts) every three or four hundred
yards along the entire hedge, where armed chaukidars
guarded the line to prevent smuggling. They could
shout to one another for assistance in case of caravans
trying to burst through, but practically this seldom
happened, as the country was too open for concealment,
and the checks against carrying untaxed salt were effective.
But the system was an expensive and clumsy one. It was
said that news often travelled by the shouting process
along the entire line in a surprisingly short time. The
two greatest sources of revenue from indirect taxation
in India are salt and opium — one a necessary, the other
a luxury. The former tax falls on the poor natives, the
latter mostly on rich foreigners. Strange to say, there
are wise politicians who would abolish the opium tax for
India, while retaining the spirits and champagne tax for
England.

The district of Jalaun does not contain much real
forest. The consequence is that the climate is intensely ȣ
hot and the soil utterly dried up, except in the rains, ^ Y
when the ground, unprotected by trees, is washed away '^
constantly towards the great river Jumna. There are ^^
miles of ravines, all sloping towards the river bed, eaten c^^
out by the rains. Far back they are only slight indenta- r^
tions, which, lower down, become deep nullahs as the \^*^
smaller streams unite, like the ramified growth of a tree
or seaweed with twigs, branches, and stems. An entire
district is permeated by these winding, branching valleys.

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 275

It is easy to get lost in them, as all are exactly alike, and
the labour of climbing up the ridges to ascertain the
direction is considerable. While following the hollows
one can see nothing, and must walk by endless windings
one knows not whither. One cannot imagine a more
desolate and utterly bewildering place to get into. The
direction in which the nullahs run is quite uncertain, so
that following them takes the wearied wanderer alternately
in every direction, and the heat of the sun beating down
into the hollows is something appalling. The chief sound
to be heard is the sighing of the hot wind, always sweeping
on from the north-west. The few straggling stalks of
bent grass which find root in the caked, hard soil are always
waving in the breeze, and the dust flying around. The
scarcity of timber in these fertile plains is much felt by
the villagers, and, having no firing, they must use all the
cow-dung, which ought to manure the land, for fuel
(called Mpla), the odour of which is strong. Then there
is the constant chirping of the crickets and cicadas, the
sound of which quite fills the sultry air. These sounds
and smells, and the never-failing heat of the ground by
night and the burning sun by day, must be felt and ex-
perienced before anyone can understand what India is
like. The impressions are such as no other country pro-
duces. While the hot winds are blowing the heat is
intense and like a furnace, dry and scorching, but not at
all depressing or relaxing, except in the night, if the wind,
as it sometimes does, ceases. But in the rains all energy
is gone.

The plains south of the Jumna in the Jalaun district are
very suitable to the support of the Indian antelope [Anti-
lope hezoartica), commonly called the black buck, in
Hindustani Mr an. The natives do not molest them,
from motives which forbid the destruction of animal life.

18—2

276 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

They are, however, very glad to see some of them shot by
the British sportsman, as they do much damage to the
crops. In the early morning camp is struck, and we start
on the march along a straight, well-gravelled road leading
towards Jalaun. On both sides is a vast plain, snuling
with fields of wheat and other crops of various shades of
bright green. The sun is beginning its rapid ascent above
the wide horizon. There are several herds of antelope
in sight, grazing on the young crops. Having sighted
some bucks with fine horns through the glasses, we stroll
carelessly across the land, a syce leading the Kathiawar
horse, which is a fast, smart mount for such occasions.
He is a beauty, with black tail and mane, about 15 hands,
of a light dun colour with stripe down back, and very
sure-footed in a gallop across the cracked cotton soil.
We shape our course, not direct for the herd of about
twenty antelope, but at an angle which will take us near
them, as if bound for a distant village, following the foot
track leading thither. The bucks look up from their
busy browsing and trot a little way towards us to inspect
the intruders, but, seeing that we are going straight on
our course and do not notice them, they continue grazing
in peace. We do not attempt any concealment, which
would arouse their suspicion at once. Selecting the finest
buck, we keep him in view and edge along nearer to him,
but stni steering straight on to pass him on the left. He
becomes nervous, and gives a few bounds and trots on,
his curiosity leading him to come nearer sometimes ; but
seeing we do not alter our course, he grazes again, pre-
senting his black side nicely at 200 yards. Watching the
moment when his head is down, the opportunity is taken
to sit down, while the syce leads the horse on without
a pause. Resting the elbows on the knees one gets a
steady position, and, aiming carefully, the express bullet

JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 277

flies to the mark, and strikes true behind the shoulder.
The thud of the bullet is unmistakable, and he bounds
away. The rest of the herd, startled by the report, fly
in a troop, all bounding in the air with graceful springs,
landing on all fours, and springing again in surprising
jumps. Their coal-black sides and white bellies glisten-
ing in the sun, and with horns thrown back, they dart
away at a great pace. The hornless females, with brown-
gray coats and white tails stuck straight up, join in the
melee. It is a beautiful sight to see the extraordinary
height they will jump when startled. They soon disap-
pear behind some patches of tall bajra, but the stricken
buck separates from the herd and shows signs of distress.
Presently he lies down, and another bullet reaches his
heart, when he is gralloched and loaded on the horse.
His horns are 24 inches long and beautifully set ; his head,
being above the average, is preserved for setting up, and
now graces my collection.

Jalaun is an old native city with some crooked, narrow
streets and native buildings of imposing flat-roofed
structure. It is not at aU metamorphosed by British
civilization, but purely native. The principal officer
was the tahsildar, or native revenue collector. In the
evening this gentleman came politely to pay me a visit,
and salaamed in the most courtly fashion, wishing me
happiness and prosperity. To my surprise he spoke
perfect English, but with a sort of shy manner and accent,
as if he seldom used the language. Having been seated
in a chair, he presently spoke of England, and said that
his name was Stanley, that he had been as a boy at Eton,
and came to India very young. He had had misfortunes
and a wild career, and had married a native lady, and was
now tahsildar in Government employment, and lived like
a native, and had almost forgotten his native language

278 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

from having none but Asiatics to talk to. He had not
been in England since his boyhood, and never should go
there again. He looked exactly like a high-caste Hindu
gentleman, and wore long hair under his white turban,
and a beard, and native white costume. He gave me
much information about the district, and told of some
strange adventures and recollections.

CHAPTER XX

THE NERBUDDA

In the great central plain of India there is a point which
is the highest between the eastern and western ocean.
Its name is Amarkantak, and its elevation is 3,494 feet
above the sea. It lies in the Central Provinces, in the
range dividing those districts from Bengal. Compared
to the mighty Himalayas on the north these are poor little
molehills, yet they are the great divide or watershed
whence flow four fine rivers, draining a vast area of well-
watered country. To the east flows the Mahanadi to
the Bay of Bengal, where the sacred temples of Jagamath
and the Black Pagoda rear their sacred pinnacles. To
the south flows the Godavari, bordering the Nizam's
dominions. To the north flows the Sone to join the
mighty Ganges ; and to the west, winding through
jungle-clad ranges through Jabalpur, forcing its way
westward between the two mountain chains of the
Satpuras and Vindhyas, ever increasing in volume as it
bursts its rocky barriers and emerges beneath the western
Ghats — second only to the Ganges — flows the sacred
Nerbudda, falling into the Gulf of Cambay, near Baroda.

Let us follow it through its rocky channel carved out .

between high walls of marble rocks, near Jabalpur; past Jj^L^

the Gond fortress of Garha, where is the Madan Mahal,
palace of a powerful Gond king, whose dynasty gave place

28o THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

to that of Hindu conquerors. Its waters in the dry
season are here placid and clear, and one can row in a
small boat lazily under the white cliffs, well polished
ridges of rock, like white whales' backs, alternating with
black basaltic pinnacles showing over the green surface.
The rocks at each side are water- worn from top to bottom,
and their solid substance cut straight down and smoothed.
Surely so tremendous a cleft could not have been eroded
by such a sluggish stream. One must view the Nerbudda
in the rains to understand the force of its rushing waters.
Between the territories of the ancient Gond races and the
mountains of Mahadeo on its south bank, and the king-
dom of Bhopal, celebrated for its Sanchi topes and its
Begum, and the Vindhya hills to the north, the great
river flows ever westward. At Hoshangabad its banks are
50 to 60 feet high above the rocky stream-bed. There is
a full mile across the river from bank to bank. The stream
in the dry season occupies but a tenth part of its channel,
and is not too deep for elephants to ford it easily. It is
at the height of the monsoon that the grandeur of this
mighty floodway is properly seen. Then the banks are fuU
up to within a few feet of the top, with a great rushing
sea of turbid water. Viewed from the top of what were
before high cliffs, the river races onward just beneath
one's feet ; and the whole landscape seems to glide away
westward, only the distant blue hills of Bhopal appearing
against the sky above the moving sea. Far out in the
centre of the current a great line of floating objects goes
along. Great trees torn up by the roots sail steadily
onward, their heads and straggling limbs and branching
roots rolling alternately above the raging torrent. Houses
and logs of timber, and the bodies of cattle and sambur
deer, and even human remains, float away in constant
procession, carried by the resistless force of raging waters

THE NERBUDDA 281

on their long journey of many hundred miles to the
ocean.

What a stupendous force, which is gradually levelling
down the land and sinking it in the sea ! How many
million tons of solid earth and sand and stones are whirled
along by this great river daily or weekly would be hard to
calculate. The mass of water, a mile wide and 50 feet
deep, moving along for days and months together, is a
spectacle that fills the mind with wonder and awe. The
sky is lurid with heavy rain-charged clouds, at times
discharging torrents of drenching warm rain. At times
the thunder rolls, and flash after flash of vivid lightning
rends the sky, and again the surface of the torrent is
whitened and lashed by the howling hot tempest. There
is a cataract through a narrow gorge 200 miles lower
down, near Chandgarh, where the Satpura and Vindhya
hills close in upon the Nerbudda. The river has worn
a passage for itself between solid masses of rock which
are quite close together. How does the great river,
when in flood, pass through this narrow gorge ? That I
have not myself seen ; but when crossing the river at
low water in the month of May, then about 60 yards
wide, in a small dug-out canoe, it struck me that it must
be at full flood equal in volume to several Niagaras.

The forest bungalow in which we spent the hot season*
when I was employed as Deputy Conservator of forests
in charge of the Western Division, Central Provinces,
stands on the banks of the Nerbudda at Hoshangabad.
The bungalow is a large straggling, thatched, typical
Indian habitation, with very wide verandahs all round,
and a wide chappar shed, on strong posts, forming a
shelter outside in the garden, which is a large one, with

* This was in 1870, when the writer had returned from furlough in
Europe, a married man.

282 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

some beautiful pipal and nim trees shading its walks.
There are also fine mangoes and stately mahua-trees,
which afford dense and delightful shade. Behind is a
grove of sissoo and tamarind trees {Tamarindus Indica)*
The natural herbage of senna bushes and jungle grass
comes up under the trees. A trellis shades the verandah,
covered with trailing moon-flower, a giant convolvulus
which opens its large white blossoms only at night. The gay-
flowering hignonia grandi flora, a mass of orange trumpet
flowers, climbs over the porch, and the purple bougain-
villea flourishes. The garden is bright with poinsettias ;
at seasons with roses, and pomegranates with shiny leaf
and scarlet blossoms. A native gardener did his best
to grow English vegetables from seed, but was not very
successful. He did better with pine-apples and melons,
and oranges and lemons, and big pommeloes. Guavas
also grew well, bearing fruit like inverted pears, but the
mangoes were a wild, ungrafted sort, and very sour and
turpentiny, though with scarlet cheeks streaked with
bright green. There were some fine old mulberry- trees,
which bore a great crop of fruit, which the natives save
for their own use. A wooden clapper is fastened in each
tree, and made to work by a little boy, who pulls the string
to frighten depredating birds away. Lettuce and pine-
apples were plentiful in beds, irrigated in the dry season
from the cool, deep well. A pair of bullocks walked up
and down an inclined plane, with a wooden yoke across
their necks. When they came to the top near the well,
the bheesty lowered the bucket, consisting of a large bag

* This is a glorious tree, resembling a giant chestnut in the fashion
of its gnarled trunk and branching arms. The foliage is, however, of
a deliciously feathery and graceful softness, light green, with finely
serrated fronds. There are specimens growing on the river bank
whose stems measure 24 feet in girth. The pods, like pea-pods, con-
tain sweet eatable seeds, on which sheep feed greedily.

THE NERBUDDA 283

made of a cowhide, into the water. When they went away
down the track they drew up the bucket, full of clear
fresh water, by a rope over the pulley. When it came up
it was upset automatically into the water channel, which
was led to all parts of the garden in turn. What with
the tropical heat and moisture, the crops grew surprisingly
quickly. When the hot winds blew in May against the
west verandah, the bheesty brought skins full of water
and dashed them against the cuscus tattis which hung in
the doorways. Inside, in the large rooms, matted with
palm-leaf woven matting, it was cool and dark, about
75° F., a breeze always passing through.

Adjoining was the daftar, or forest office, where the forest
maps and statistics and accounts were made up on large
sheets in prescribed form for the annual report of the
Western Division. The forests under control of the Deputy
Conservator comprised 2,400 square miles of woodland,
mountain, and jungle, in the Nerbudda district. The
annual report, a voluminous document describing the
work of the year, had to be prepared, with maps and
accounts of receipts and expenditure, amounting for the
division to Rs. 92,711 and Rs. 88,470, and an immense
number of returns sent as prescribed up to No. 60.
The Government of India requires an immense amount
of clerical work to be done by its departmental officers,
and returns are multiplied excessively, budget estimates
and specifications being required for every trivial ex-
penditure. The forms are apparently designed to give
work to clerks, and to cause delay in actual work. They
would be no check at all on a dishonest officer, yet seem
to imply that no official is to be trusted. That the country
is magnificently served by its officials is due, not to this
modern system of accumulated clerical checks, but to
the fact that the officials are men educated in English

284 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

public schools, where boys are trusted as gentlemen, and
the French spying system, the product of democracy, is
happily not yet discovered.

The garden was overgrowoi and tangled, but the growth
of crops was surprising. Quite a nursery of young teak-
trees had grown from seed put down in the spring, after
proper steeping of the hard nut-like capsules. They
were now nearly a foot high, with a few gigantic leaves
unfolding. The teak leaf is a huge one, up to 24 inches
long and 18 broad. The experiment was being tried of
planting teak in the plain by the Nerbudda, as more
convenient for the portage of the timber than the
Satpura hills, where the forest plantations were. The
teak-tree would grow much faster in the deep alluvial
soil of the plain than in the rock-bound hills, where the
roots could scarcely penetrate, and where the cost of
planting and digging and clearing the ground was con-
siderable. The most valuable timber tree in India is the
teak. From its immensely strong, heavy, straight-
grained timber the decks of our most modern iron-clads
and the best railway-carriages in England are made. Its
breaking strain is greater than that of oak. It still exists
in extensive forests in Burmah, where the Forest Depart-
ment has its finest reserves ; but in India the old trees
have been so steadily hacked down and used up with-
out thought for the future that a mature teak-tree is a
rarity.

There were many localities in the Satpura hills where
young teak-trees were to be found growing naturally,
but only scattered here and there in out-of-the-way and
rocky ravines. The seedlings which grow naturally, or
are planted out in the forest plantations, if they are not
withered by drought in the hot weather, or scorched by
jungle fires, make most enormous shoots, the saplings

THE NERBUDDA 285

reaching 25 and 30 feet the second season, straight stalks
with half a dozen leaves on top.

If fires are excluded for a few years these seedlings will
rapidly become secure from injury. In the Madras
Presidency at Nilambur there is a plantation of teak, made
by an enthusiastic lover of forests — Mr. Connolly — in
1844 to 1857, riow of 3,500 acres. According to state-
ments of Colonel Beddome, Conservator of that district
in 1885, some of the trees then measured 8 feet in girth
and no feet high, being straight and yielding good timber.
The trees, planted 1,000 to the acre, would be eventually
thinned out to about seventy trees to the acre, of 200 to
240 cubic feet each at sixty years old. This is a surprising
growth, considering that oak takes 250 years probably to
attain the same size. The same authority stated that
in the sapling stage of their first ten years teak-trees put
on I to 2 cubic feet annually, and grow chiefly in height,
with single stems, but that their growth is then much
accelerated, each tree putting on from 5 cubic feet a year —
growing, in fact, four times as fast as oak. In view of the
fact that the yearly export from Burmah to England,
which averaged for many years half a million in value,
has been on the decline, owing to the large timber becom-
ing exhausted, the importance of conserving the teak
forests and replanting becomes apparent. An experi-
ment of planting teak in a forest reserve called Banka
Burda, in the Satpura hills, was in progress ; but it seemed
that a wrong place had been selected, too far from carriage.
It is now abandoned. If Government plantations had
been made on a large scale on Mr, Connolly's system,
what a splendid property would now exist !

We will proceed to explore these extensive jungles.
The road is but a cattle track winding along the bottom of
a rocky vaUey ; on each side rise moderately steep ridges,

286 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

all dense jungle. Having marched on elephants some
twelve or fifteen miles, always in a south-westerly direction,
and seeing no end to the succession of ridge and valley
and dry river beds, we at length come down to an open
glade, where runs a beautiful clear stream, and our white
tents, sent on on camels, stand on the fiat under shady
trees, ready to receive us.

Near here is a village of the aboriginal Gond inhabitants.
They live partly in caves under the rocks and in little
grass-roofed sheds, and are more like monkeys than men ;
but they are the best shikaris to be found anywhere, and
a quiet, well-conducted race, living by herding cattle
and the chase of wild animals. They are naturally very
skilful in tracking, as they possess no firearms, and use
only spears and bows and arrows. They are said to slay
the greatest beast of the forest, the gaur or bison, sitting
in trees over its path. When the herds are driven by
other Gonds along the track, the spears are jobbed down
into the gaur's back, and stick there till the animal dies
of exhaustion. Every man, woman, and child carries
a beautifully shaped light kulhari, or hatchet, made of
native steel, with springy bamboo handle.

It is strange to see the little naked children, each with
its diminutive kulhari stuck in its one article of clothing,
a loin-rag, or using the tool neatly in felling branches for
firewood. The women also have their hatchets, and can
use them. The men have larger ones, and can fell a
large tree with these light little tools nearly as fast as an
American backwoodsman with his great axe, weighing
five times the weight. The Gonds are very black, and
of a low type of humanity, with snub features, but are
extremely active and enduring. They live in the jungle,
and do not cultivate land, except on the dahya system,
by which great tracts of forest have been hacked away

THE NERBUDDA 287

and destroyed and burnt, and much damage done. The
Forest Department has done much to put a stop to this
pernicious custom by taking up large reserves, where it is
forbidden and the fires excluded.

Two more marches, through valleys and across low
ridges, all dense forest, bring us to the teak plantation of
Banka Burda. Here is a forest chappar or bungalow,
built of wattle and daub, with a roof thickly thatched
with the forest grass. It stands in a narrow valley high
up among rocky hills, where a stream of clear water flows
from perennial springs. There is a mud floor, and a
verandah all round, and doors and windows are only aper-
tures in the wattled walls. The Forest Assistant coming
to inspect the planting operations puts up in this pictur-
esque mansion, but a prolonged stay generally means a
strong go of jungle fever. The work of sowing teak seed,
and planting out the seedlings in nursery beds and eventu-
ally in the forest, is carried on by a jamadar with a staff
of coolies. It is a pretty expensive operation, and a good
many young trees die in the hot weather ; but when once
estabhshed they go ahead strong. The jungle is infested
by tigers, which occasionally carry off the coolies, and
it is the duty of the forest officer to shoot them, a duty
he is not slow to perform.

The Gond shikaris brought in news in the evening
that a tiger had just killed a cow, and was lying in a
thicket in a ravine close by. At early dawn the camp
was astir, and some coolies with torches and tom-toms
were sent round to beat the ravine. A fine tiger was
rolled over by the Assistant Conservator, and brought
into camp by breakfast-time. Then there was a drive
for bison. Some Gonds who knew the haunts of these
great beasts, and where they mostly lay up in the heat
of the day, and their well-worn paths across the ridges

288 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

or up the valleys, were sent round to start the herd, coming
down wind on them in dense bamboo scrub. The guns
were placed at two ghats to command the most likely passes
down wind, so that the gaurs should not smell the danger
ahead. It was a long, silent tramp to reach our post, under
the guidance of old Boodoo, a typical Gond shikari, who
carried spare rifles. We wound our way by a mere track
among rocks and gnarled trees, with a burning sun over-
head and stifling heat all round, up to the edge of a ridge
where the jungle paths converged in a sort of a pass or
ghat. Here we remained concealed among rocks for a
considerable time, overlooking the dry bed of a stream.
The noise of some animal moving through the jungle was
heard not far off, and the voices of Gonds in the distance
coming nearer, and tappings of sticks against the trees.
Some sambur deer made their appearance, cautiously
stealing up to the ghat. These were let pass by, as bison
were certainly on foot. Presently was sighted the head
of a magnificent bull bison standing among thick bushes.
His eyes were fixed on our position, and whether he smelt
or sighted us crouched among the rocks, he evidently
suspected danger and turned some other way, for he did
not come on near enough for a shot.

There was no survey or correct map of the very extensive
forests, comprising over 2,000 square miles, to be found
in the office, and no one knew exactly what they contained.
This deficiency I endeavoured to remedy from existing
revenue maps, as learning the geography by marching
twelve miles a day over a big country, though very in-
teresting, is not a very rapid method.

These great ranges of rocky hills, all covered with sparse
tree-jungle, with long grass in the hollows and beds of
streams, extend from Mandla and Jabalpur to Bhusawal,
a distance of 300 miles by 200, of which 10,000 square

THE NERBUDDA 289

miles are forest. There are large tracts which have been
taken up by the Forest Department as Government
reserves (classified A, Bi, and B2). Other portions,
where the forest is of a less promising character, are con-
sidered as open, unclassified forests, where it would not
pay to exclude the fires. Here are the grazing grounds
of great herds of cattle and buffalo, which are usually sent
out to graze in the dry season, when fodder and grass are
exhausted in the open village lands. The forests being
Government property, a revenue is collected by the sale
of permits for grazing, also on gums and other minor pro-
duce. There is a staff of forest watchers employed to
guard the passes and collect the dues. The reserved
forests are in the best portions, protected from fire by
broad Unes cleared of grass all round their area. It is
considered that, as the expense of replanting is too great,
it is better to rely on the natural reproduction from seed
and old stools, which is always going on slowly provided
the fire can be excluded. The difficulty of preventing
fire from crossing these protecting lines is considerable
during the very dry months of April and May, when the
hot winds blow and the smallest spark will cause a great
conflagration ; but it has been generally successfully
done, though sometimes fires occur. The jamadars in
charge of the reserves, and their staffs, are rewarded
according to the success of their exertions. When the
rains come, then the danger of fire is past. The cattle
are driven away to their villages, and the jungle is left
to the wild beasts. The highest point of these hiUs is
a fine rocky summit, called Mahadeo, as it is sacred to
that primitive deity, the author of existence, represented
always by the phallus.

There is a place of pilgrimage in a cave, where great
numbers of seekers after the favour of the ' Great God '

19

290 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

flock to his shrine. There is a well-worn and difficult
path, which leads from the plains below to the sacred
place, some twelve miles through rocky gorges and over
jungle-clad ridges, in some places steep and even danger-
ous. The pilgrims come from great distances, poor and
rich, men and women, to propitiate the deity who gives
them children. They must tramp the toilsome ascent and
present the priests of the shrine with suitable offerings.
These well-to-do gentlemen, who live on the fat of the
land, appear in the guise of jogis, covered with ashes
or painted in bright colours, and ring bells and go through
ceremonies at certain hours, chanting in a monotonous
tone, after a fashion which seems common to priests all
over the world. The pilgrims are then conducted into
the cave, which is a natural one in the face of the moun-
tain, whence a stream of cool clear water issues. They
must pass through a well-worn basin of deep water before
entering the holy place, where the image of the deity is
carved in stone. It is said that many pilgrims get their
death of cold from the sudden immersion after their hot
and exhausting climb through the heat of the tropical sun ;
but this is part of the penance which priestcraft imposes
on the credulity of the pious.

Near Mahadeo mountain is the plateau of Pachmari,
well known now as a hill station or sanatorium for troops.
It was then in charge of the Forest Department, and there
existed only the forest bungalow and a gaol. The summit
is a tableland of some extent, studded with fine and beauti-
ful forest trees of various kinds, in groups or single.

The forest officer used to come there in the hottest
weather, and the forest work consisted in ploughing the
land with an English plough drawn by an elephant, with
a view to making a nursery of trees and growing potatoes.
This was before the present system of forest conservation.

THE NERBUDDA 291

and before ' working plans ' of forest rotation had even
been heard of ; and officers had not been much instructed
in the scientific management since inaugurated. The
ideas possessed by the energetic officers who first stirred
up the Government to pay attention to the forests were
first derived from the British systems of arboriculture,
which had not arrived even at silviculture, and which
even to the present day know very little of the broad
principles of forest rotation, extending over several cen-
turies, which have been thought and worked out in France
and Germany. When timber for building and firewood
began to be scarce on the Rhine, the necessity which
mothers invention opened the eyes of the Germans, who
are a vorsichtig people, to the fact that timber might be
grown on land not suitable to wheat, as a crop, and in a
rotation exactly like a com crop. If primitive man had
relied on the natural growth of wild wheat here and there
in the woods to supply bread for his children's use, he
would have used his brains to as little purpose as do
those who rely on forests which are left to chance for
their replenishment, after everyone has had a free hand
to cut away and hack at the store which nature had in
thousands of years accumulated. The difference being
that mistakes in growing com can be remedied next year,
but mistakes in timber-growing not under fifty or a hun-
dred years. The peculiar situation of England , endowed by
nature with vast supplies of coal, makes her less provident.
It was the Government of India, under Lord Dalhousie,
which had the distinction of establishing a Forest Depart-
ment under the best expert supervision, and educating
its officers in approved forest schools.

The improvement made in the forest administration
of the Satpura hiUs since the Department has been estab-
lished is now becoming apparent. In the report of the

19 — 2

292 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Northern Division (Central Provinces) for 1899 the area
of forest under protection is put at close upon 6,000,000
acres — over 9,000 square miles — all of which is classified
and demarcated and under the care of a most efficient
staff, directed by forest officers who have been trained
in the best schools of Europe. The whole area has been
laid out into districts, each with its ' working plan,' b}"
which rotations of thinning, cutting, and reproduction are
laid down for all future time. The receipts amount to
4^ lacs of rupees, and expenditure to about Rs. 396,000,
leaving a net profit of about Rs. 50,000 for the year.
The duties of officers comprise the carrying out of the
' working plan ' of thinning and cutting, the regulating
of grazing and sale of timber and firewood, the collection
of revenues from minor products — including bamboos,
lac, resin {ral), harra (for tanning), mowha, tasar silk
cocoons, gums and dye stuffs — and the furnishing a report
and numerous returns up to No. 60 once a year, from
which the returns for the whole of India are framed.*
But as yet no mature crop has come into market.

Great areas of forest still remain in the possession of
the communes and villages and private owners, so that
the rights of the people are not encroached upon ; but,
under the protection of the Department, natural growth
is steadily restoring the State forests to a condition of
productiveness which by previous neglect they had
ceased to maintain.

* In the Report for 1899, par. 91, is the following : ' General Health
of Staff. — The year was a comparatively healthy one : i Deputy Con
servator, i extra Assistant Conservator, i Deputy Ranger, 26 Forest
Guards, and 2 licensed vendors died, being a percentage of 2'i7 of the
strength of the entire staff.' Also : ' Shooting permits have been sold
to 276 persons. Good heads are becoming scarce . . . and bison are
diminishing in numbers, owing both to disease and their indiscriminate
slaughter by impalement by the jungle population.' The above are
significant entries up to date.

THE NERBUDDA 293

To return to personal experiences during the time that
I was in charge of the Western Division, as then desig-
nated. Leaving Hoshangabad on May 24, I proceeded
by train to Harda station, on the Great Indian Peninsula,
to inspect a report upon the little-known forest of Chand-
garh, a jungle on the north of the Nerbudda, cut out of
the Indore district. The hot winds were blowing with
a force quite exceptional, a steady and furnace-like
draught ever pressing from west to east. The train,
bearing invalids to Bombay on sick leave to England,
some of whom would never reach their homes, steamed
lazily along, the steam from the funnel of the engine
being quite invisible, the dust and dry leaves flying and
curling and crackling along. The engine seemed over-
come by the heat, and people's eyes were closed up and
sore from the smoke and glare. There were coffins ready
on the platforms of the stations, and the engine-driver's
bottle of brandy in the tender was empty. The guard,
in whose van I travelled for company, was cheery, saying
that a man had had heat apoplexy, and was taken out
of a first-class carriage dead at a previous station. To
put one's hand out and let the hot wind strike the back
of it meant getting burnt ; to sit with one's head un-
protected meant sunstroke. Luckily, the journey to
Harda was not long, and camp had been sent on to Beera.
Getting on a beautiful chestnut Arab at the sleepy-looking
row of sheds constituting the Harda station, a smart
canter along a smooth white road, shaded by nim-trees,
brought me to camp under a glorious banian. The white
tent looked home-like, and elephants and camels picketed
around were like a travelling menagerie. The bheesty
had the tattis at the western door of the tent well soused
with water, and inside was cool and pleasant. When the
welcome sundown came, and only with it a lull of the

294 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

burning blast, the tent was struck and started on camels,
only some khanats being retained to partially surround
the charpai, which was placed on a dari in the draughtiest
spot, where the breeze brought some coolness to the per-
spiring occupant. Four a.m. was the hour of awakening,
just as sleep long wooed had come in earnest. A fifteen
miles ride brought one to camp again, this time at the
edge of the jungle. At dawn we crossed the Nerbudda in
a boat. It is here that the rocks close in on its broad bed,
narrowing the channel to a rocky gate. The camp was
swept by a furious blast, and the sun glowered down from
the zenith, a glowing ball of fire.

Next day and the next we rode an elephant all day
through a trackless jungle. The trees were leafless
mostly and bare, but by the stream banks were bright
green masses of jamun foliage, like the cotton-tree of the
prairies always following the winding, sunken course of
the streams ; but there was no water in those streams,
only sand and rock and an odd yellow pool once in a mile
or more.

We camped by one such pool, the only good-sized one

in a thirsty land for several miles. At night the sides

were taken from the tent to let a breath of heated air

pass across the charpai, for it could not be placed out in

the jungle. Next morning there were fresh tracks of a

tiger and a panther and two bears, which had drunk at the

pool about 30 yards from the tent. The mornings were

spent in traversing the jungle in every direction to discover

where timber might be found fit for sleepers. There is

a handsome tall-stemmed tree called anjun {Hardwickia

binata),* which grows commonly in Chandgarh. It has

* In Skinner's ' Description of Indian Timbers ' this timber is
described as a close-grained and durable wood of a very dark reddish
colour; specific gravity, i"36o; it has a breaking strain much higher
than teak.

THE NERBUDDA 295

fine-leaved sprays of graceful, birch-like foliage for its
crown. The timber of anjun is hard and heavy and fine
in the grain, and when sleepers made of various forest
trees were tried to prove their worth, the anjun sleepers
stood the test better than those of teak or sal, remaining
sound longer. There were no sal-trees nor teak in this jungle.
There were plenty of tracks of great bison (gaur) , but none
were seen, though some Gond jungle men, who followed
their tracks rapidly over the hard and rocky ground
where no special track could be seen by the uneducated
eye, pursuing steadily for some hours, did their best to
bring me up to the herd. But night came on too soon,
and we never sighted the great beasts. I had a shot
at a bear which came to drink one evening at the pool.
Unfortunately, the bullet struck and killed one of three
cubs that were quietly asleep on the bear's back, not dis-
tinguishable from its coarse shaggy black coat. That
bear came round the camp at night, when she had counted
her little ones and found one short, making a loud and
angry single call at intervals, which disturbed the camp a
good deal. She came close up in the morning in thick
bush jungle, but did not afford me another shot, and went
off again, grumbling frequently.

The natives said that people who lived in this jungle
were required by the fairies to perform certain pujas,
otherwise they were generally taken with a deadly
malady in the chest. The season of the hot winds is
probably the healthiest time for visiting such places.
Though the heat was intense on June i, and the exposure
all day to a vertical sun very trying, one did not suffer
at all from chills at night. In fact, the night was hotter
than the day. Still, by wearing a thick cotton padded
khaki jacket and a big puggaree, wound native fashion
round the head during the heat of the day while riding

296 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

an elephant or on foot, I found the heat quite bearable,
and did not get fever. Ten days after, when the rains
threatened and I marched back to Hoshangabad, I had
an attack of sharp fever for a few days.

Large quantities of sal sleepers had to be furnished at
a place on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway called
Bagra, not far from Hoshangabad, where the last relics
of a fine sal forest were being cut up for the use of the
railway. The native method of sawing is ingenious.
The logs are propped up in a sloping direction and cut
with whip saws, one man standing on top and one below.
Saw-pits were not used. Work in the forest came to an
end in the rains, camping out and marching being im-
possible. Camels cannot carry loads over wet and
slippery ground, as their big flat feet are more suited
to dry and rocky soil. They frequently then slip and
split up if loaded, and cannot stand a damp climate,
dying like flies. Their owners drive them all back to
the rainless Bikaner in the north-west, to graze on the
babul or camel-thorns {Acacia Arabica) of those arid,
sandy deserts, and bring them south again to be hired
out in the dry season.

The rains at Hoshangabad can only be described as hot,
relaxing, and incessant for four months. The normal con-
ditions of life were mere existence, alternated with goes
of fever ; but sometimes there were delightful intervals
of European-like weather, when one could ride abroad or
take trips on elephants, which had to take all the mes-
sages to the railway station at Itarsi — ten miles — as the
roads were impassable for carts. There is now a railway
junction at Hoshangabad, and a fine bridge over the
Nerbudda.

CHAPTER XXI

THE BORI FOREST

In October, 1870, after the rains were over, the forest
daftar (office) and camp moved out to the district. It
was proposed to hand over the plateau of Pachmari to
the military for the purpose of a sanatorium for troops.
The timber depot at Bagra was the site of our first camp.
Tents were pitched under some giant mango and tamarind
trees on the bank of the river Tawa, a large tributary of
the Nerbudda. Here was a strange sight. The recently
built railway bridge, about 100 yards long, had during the
rains been entirely swept away by the heavy floods which
came down from the Satpuras. Stone piers, girders, and
aU were gone, and nothing remained but the rails and
sleepers, hanging together in the air by the fish-plates in
a graceful curve some 50 feet above the river, which was
now a placid, clear stream winding and gurgling over
smooth rocks. The traffic was conducted on a deviation,
which ran down into the bed of the river and up again the
other side. There are always many such catastrophes
on a new line in India during the first and second rainy
seasons.

Bagra is a lovely spot, with its huge shady trees. The
park-like plain with cultivation mixed with forest, and
the gorge of the river, on one side ; on the south a rocky,
tree-clad valley, and the ridges and ranges of the Satpuras

298 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

rising one above another to some 4,000 feet, and fading
away in the blue distance. The ground was still covered
with the luxuriant carpet of rain vegetation, weeds and
plants and shrubs of many curious kinds, senna being a
common bush about 2 feet high, and rose briars and
yellow-flowering Cassia fistula abundant. Lovely feathery
mimosas and acacias formed the lesser groves by the river,
and occasional tall, straight sal and saj trees towered on
the hillsides above the numerous trees of the forest. One
of our camps was near a village not far from the railway-
station, where we had to wait for some necessary equip-
ment. It is fatal to pitch camp after the rains near a
village, where the ground is soiled by cattle and villagers,
no matter how beautiful and fresh the open fields may
appear. The germs of fever are surely about, much more
so than in the jungle. Here we were delayed by severe
attacks of jungle fever, which affected natives and all
alike. They would come shivering and off their heads in
delirium, and throw themselves at the tent-door, raving
and praying for dawai (medicine). Quinine, luckily, was
plentiful.

The train from Bombay came by daily about breakfast-
time, with its freight of healthy-looking arrivals from
Europe, officials rejoining, and smartly-dressed young
people, all full of hopes and excitement at the novelty of
a strange country. Other trains went westward, freighted
with the most depressing crowd of half -broken-down,
sallow, carelessly clad, and weary-looking men, women, and
children, to whom the wonders of the gorgeous East were
a burden, and perhaps a terrible reminder of death and
careers prematurely blighted. In the refreshment room
we met friends of both categories, several quite unex-
pectedly; but were truly delighted to clear out on the
earliest possible date from that camp, and move upwards

THE BORI FOREST 299

into the hills, where higher ground and better air and
quinine soon chased headaches and shivers and collapse
away. The road lay by a winding route, ever mounting
higher through miles of jungle-clad hills, only a bridle-
track where elephants, horses, and camels could just get
along. Gangs of coolies were at work repairing the
damage done by the rains and widening the road. A
camp was chosen at a long ago deserted village. Many
such exist in all parts of India as well as in the poems of
great writers. Here were the old terraced fields all grown
over with dense thicket, where houses once stood. Wild
orange and citron trees shed their golden fruit on the
ground unheeded. The clumps of great wide-leaved
bananas were choked by thorny trees and tangled brush-
wood. A grove of mango-trees left crowded together
had grown to an immense height, with bare, tall stems,
and a date-palm tree, with slender stalk fully 120 feet
high, overtopped them all. There were planters of
orchards in those days who had some intelligence above
cutting down and selling, or spoiling earth's treasures
for the sordid gain which is the high aim of modem
industry.

The fields which were once ploughed were gone back
into jungle and overgrown with grass 10 feet high, the
lurking place of tigers and leopards. The neatly built
well, whose clear water issued from the mountain through
a carved stone mouth, still supplied the thirsty traveller ;
but the villagers were not there, and all that remained
of the houses were some moss and fern covered stone
walls, clasped by a network of pipal roots and shaded
by giant fig-trees. The glory of the village was an
immense banian-tree, standing alone and covering half
an acre of level ground. This great tree, with a stem
50 feet in girth, continued to flourish and spread, with a

30O THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

mass of thick foliage through which no sunhght could
penetrate. Here was room for tents and camp followers
enough. The valley is sheltered on aU sides by gently
sloping hills, and a stream winds among overhanging
stems. The wild flowers and plants and trailing creepers
to be found would detain a lover of gardens many days.
Here was a real wild garden overgrown with weeds, but
weeds of tropical beauty and proportion ; the very
nettles were giants with spears half an inch long. The
trees were swarming with beautiful bright birds, and green
pigeons cooed softly in the high trees. Of these there are
several kinds, some as big as wood-pigeons, and excellent
eating.* The pretty little turtle-doves, with black ring
and modest plumage, picked on the path at grain and
fluttered in the bushes, and hght-running hoopoes raised
their fan-like crests, chasing the insects.

There is a strange black bird, once seen never forgotten
— the greater racket-tailed drongo.f Here were several
flitting from tree to tree, the long feathers, bare of web
except a racket-like end, fluttering in the breeze. It was
impossible to refrain from securing a couple of specimens
(now in my collection), and skinning them carefully. I
had seen the lesser racket-tailed drongo in the Terai, but
this was a new find. The common king crow or black
drongo shrikej is a bird that no one fails to notice, sitting
on every telegraph wire, and darting after insects, always
returning to his perch. He is a tyrant, and permits no
interference from other birds with his own hunting
quarter. Among familiar birds is noticed the common
Indian roller, which perches on telegraph poles, and pro-

* There are nineteen species of green pigeons in India, distinguished
by Blanford, besides wood and blue pigeons and cushats ; also nine
species of turtle-doves.

t Dissemurus paradisejts, said by Blanford to inhabit Central India.

1 Dicruriis ater.

THE BORI FOREST 301

gresses screeching, with a series of blue flashes, to the next
pole. Called by the Hindu nil kant* the sacred bird of
Siva the Cruel, he is liberated annually in Hindu cere-
monial, like the scapegoat, to bear away the smaU-pox
and other inflictions. Everysvhere flying is the lovely
little metallic sunbird,f which dances as it flies, wings
expanded like a butterfly, and then sails kite-like with
angular tail, spiked with two long centre feathers. There
are twenty different species of sunbirds distinguished by
Indian naturalists, so profuse is the supply with which
nature decorates the landscape. Some are purple and
some yellow, and they shine in every sun-ray. Their
little nests, shaped like pears, hang by a cord from the
ends of boughs near the ground, and are beautifully
woven. High up in the dark recesses of the banian-tree
one hears all day the ' coppersmith ' striking his anvil
with metallic twang, the crimson-crested green barbett
with thick, strong bill. There are several sorts (sixteen
species), smaller and greater, and they are very in-
dustrious.

This great fig-tree is in itself a whole aviary, affording
both shade and figs, and insects and grubs, and safety
from numerous enemies of the hawk tribe. There is the
golden oriole {Oriolus kundoo), which makes a melodious
whistle very like the ring of glass, short, single, and de-
scending two octaves. In the heat of the day, as we sit
in the broad tent verandah, many little squirrels, exactly
like American chipmunks, come skipping and cocking high
their bottle-brush ringtails, boldly venturing to our very
feet to pick up stray crumbs as we take our tiffin, and
scuttling away with a shrill whistle when too great

* Coracias Indica.

•f ^thopyga sehericB, green sunbird or honey-sucker.

X Xantholcema hcematocephala.

302 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

bravery changes to sudden fear, as one can see by the
change of expression in their Httle twinkling eyes ; such
inquisitive, bright httle faces they have, which they clean
often with their little hands. No one can be dull with
such lively companions, which insist upon being noticed.
Among the thick shiny leaves there is a sparkle of canary-
yellow and bright scarlet ; this is the female and male
minivet* or cardinal bird. There are many kinds of
woodpeckers, which tap on the stems and screech. A
dark-greenish bird sits in the shade — the koel.f He
makes the grove resound with his frantic cry, ' I've lost
my shirt !' When no one takes notice, he screeches in
tones ascending ever higher : ' Oh my oh, oh m.^ oh, oh
m^ oh !' The air is full of swifts and swallows, darting
ever after insects and twittering loudly to one another.
At no time or place is there an interval in the wheeling of
long-winged kites$ high overhead, ready to pick up any-
thing eatable with a sudden swoop, squealing at one
another in a grating manner when two come at the same
object. Towards evening, when the sun's glare is modified
and shadows lengthen, a little owl says ' Piu !'§ from the
recesses of the many air-roots which hang overhead.
Then, as by a signal given, a hundred green paroquets
screech all together at the top of their shrill voices from
every tree, and begin to dart like green streaks across
every open space at a pace which takes one's breath away.
The green lines seem to run like electric flashes in every
possible direction, intersecting one another in a mazy
pattern like ribands in a pole -dance. The chorus of
screeches is ear-piercing, and comes in waves. There are

* Pericrocotus speciosus.
f Eudynatnys honorata.
\ Milvus govinda.

5:5 Like the Italian owl when spring comes: * II fuoco nel letto non si
mette "piu." '

THE BORI FOREST 303

flocks of the common large green paroquet* {Ma), 21 inches
long, and the smaller rose-collared tota, which roosts with
the crows, and many kinds of plum-headed paroquets, and
slaty-headed and red-breasted parrots of all sizes. Their
noisy fit, luckily, does not go on for very long ; but when
it ceases, then begin the various evening and night
noises which are more or less ventriloquistic sounds,
hard to imitate or describe. There are notes of various
owls, some plaintive, some snoring ; the purring also of
the goatsuckers which fly round with noiseless flight, their
great throats open wide to swallow large moths and insects.
Stag-beetles drone as they swing by, and cockchafers
and the cicadas in the trees keep up a creaking which
seems always in the air, and there is never silence.

These are the voices of the jungle, which speak to those
who listen and try to understand something of the teeming
life which Indian forests present. Each inhabitant talks
to his own kindred, and uses a language well understood
among friends, and gives warning of enemies. Each
of the many thousand species in the list has its own place
of abode for the season, and in its mind owns the land,
and the feeding grounds, and drinking fountains, and
night perches, and the nests which it builds, just as much
as men own land and houses and bequeath them to their
successors. Each group of migratory birds has its own
summer and winter demesne, and takes its trip to the
seaside or continent as regularly as clockwork, returning
on the same date each year to its own fixed residence, in
localities separated often by immense distances, some-
times in different hemispheres. Each builds in its own
style of architecture according to correct and fixed laws.
Who can say what is the extent of mind or intelligence
possessed by these creatures ? That they have clever-

* Palaornis nipalensis.

304 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

ness to avoid danger from their known enemies is the
condition of their existence. That they do not regard
man in India as an enemy, which their extraordinary
tameness shows, is a silent testimony from nature to
the high* humanity of the Buddhist and Hindu rehgions,
which look on animal life as, alike with man's, divine.

While noticing the birds of the forest, I must not forget
the chandul. This is the crested lark, a bird much
valued by natives as a singing bird. I purchased one in
the Hoshangabad bazaar for the mem-sahib, price Rs. 50,
or £5 in those days. They are valued according to the
number of animals they can mimic. They are taken in
a small cage, closely wrapped in a handkerchief, to all the
nautches, where tom-toms and fifes make music all night,
and are taught to imitate every sound. The repertoire
of our chandul included the cries of sparrows, swifts,
parrots screeching in flocks, also squirrels, a horse neigh-
ing, goats' and cats' calls, a dog barking, bulbuls' sweet
songs, doves cooing, hens cackling, and geese noises. He
was a dear little bird, just like a skylark, but with long
feathers on the crown of the head. The bearer had to
take him out every day to ' eat the air ' {hawa khana),
and attend to his feeding on various grains and cake made
with ghee, and to bring him every evening after dinner.
The cage was placed on the dinner-table, when Chandul
would go through his performance. A buzz of conversa-
tion always excited him to begin. It was the sweetest

* In a large native city in Central India I noted the gable of a small
native house, which appeared like a honeycomb built of mud. It was
actually over 100 swallows' nests, so close together as to resemble an
empty comb. In and out of the holes were flying innumerable swallows,
so tame that one might almost lay one's hand on any bird. This was
in the most crowded portion of the bazaar ; the whole gable was about
9 feet high, so that most of the nests were on the level of the crowd of
people who frequented the bazaar.

THE BORI FOREST 305

little gentle whistle, beginning soft, but when he got to
the sparrows fighting it was an angry sharp note. The
imitations were perfect. It is impossible to imagine a
cleverer or more charming little bird.

Camp is next moved to Pachmari, The Forest De-
partment is , ordered to furnish timber for building
barracks. Here we must remain in permanent camp
for some time, and a temporary mess-house is run up by
the R.E., of clean wattle and daub, thatched well with
jungle grass for coolness. Before it became a sanatorium
for troops Pachmari was a charming place, almost a
wild jungle as nature made it. Here grew many kinds of
beautiful trees, dotted about everywhere in groups.
There were many fig-trees. Of these, besides the banian
and pipal, there was the paker-tree (Urostigma in-
fedorium), with stem resembling the banian, but without
the hanging roots. It grows to an enormous size, some
measuring 40 feet in girth, with noble spreading head and
arms stretching out every side. Then there is the gular
{Ficus glomerata or Urostigma glomeratum), a fine, shady,
fig-bearing tree with spreading head. Then must be
specially noticed the mahua-tree, which is, next to the
mango, the most remarkable fruit-producing tree in
India. It is even far more plentiful than the mango,
which has been mostly planted by the zamindars in
groves; but the mahua {Bassia lati folia) is a wild forest
tree, and reproduces itself from seed all over India. In
some districts the cultivated plains look like a continuous
grove-like succession of round-headed umbrageous standard
trees with great black stems. The ' fruit ' is not a
fruit, but the succulent, sweet corolla of the flower, which
falls to the ground in March and April. It is eaten greedily
by all birds and animals — deer, pigs, cows, and sheep —
and men. The natives collect as much as they want of it,

20

3o6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

and dry it as an article of food ; and a very important
article it is, in some districts, saving thousands from death
in famine years. It is a crop which is never known to
fail, no matter how dry the season. In Central India
every village claims its area of mahua-trees, and even in
the furthest jungle every tree has an owner, and descends
from father to son as a property, on which people marry
and live on the value of its product. It is not only the
poor man's bread, but his wine. From the sweet stuff,
which keeps when dried any length of time, like raisins,
the natives distil the mahua spirit in quantity only limited
by the duty chargeable to Government. In the Monghyr
district in 1873 duty was paid on* 1,750 tons of mahua
for distilling, and it was proved that, if carefully manu-
factured, the spirit could be easily freed from essential
oils, and made into a most wholesome spirit resembling
whisky. But the rum manufacturers of Calcutta and
Shahjahanpur petitioned Government, and a prohibition
duty was placed on its distillation.

The wild mahua-trees of the Satpuras are very plentiful,
having never been cut down or hacked by the natives,
and show what the less fortunate timber trees might be
if the Gonds had spared them from mutilation. There
is another product of the mahua-tree which has been
proved to be valuable — i.e., the oil expressed from its
seeds. England imports yearly oil seeds from India to
the value of five to six millions sterling, principally linseed,
but the mahua oil is three times as valuable as linseed,
being as good as cocoa-nut oil for candles. Here are,

* Statement of Mr. Lockvvood, civil officer of Monghyr, who calcu-
lates that each tree produces 2 to 3 cwt. of corollas, and that in the
4,000 square miles of his district there were over a million trees, making
the yield over 100.000 tons of nourishing food for man or beast. The
Santhals, he states, suffer no famines in consequence, and are a plump
and happy race. (' Report of the Linnean Society,' 1878.)

THE BORI FOREST 307

from one tree, forest products of vast importance, which,
if exploited systematically, should bring in vast wealth
to the exchequer, and afford employment for the poor in
their collection.

Even to enumerate all the products of all the trees and
plants of the jungle would require a volume. Among
them would be included tea, cinchona, indiarubber,
gums, frankincense, catechu, and various drugs ; wild
silks from ten or twelve different silkworms, besides
that of the mulberr\^ ; rhea* or china grass (which
from China is worth £60 a ton as a substitute for silk),
lac, and cochineal, which is a red insect found in the
forest.

Among the products of trees is oil from the chaulmugra-
tree,t a specific against consumption ; thymol ; anti-
septic kino, from the Butea frondosa ; camphor, resin,
besides dye-stuffs and tan-stuffs innumerable. J The
frankincense-tree {Boswellia thurifera) grows very com-
monly on the Mahadeo hills. It has white, pinkish,
smooth bark like a naked limb, branches spreading in
ungraceful curves with a few leaves at the points, and
is tapped largely for its fragrant gum. Solomon sent
ships to Tarshish for this product, along with gold, apes,
and peacocks. As the Mysore forests produce the whole
list to the present day, it is probable that Tarshish was
Mysore. The old workings, which have been found
200 feet below the surface in the mines there, are a won-
derful proof of the advancement of engineering know-
ledge in the days of the wise king. We may find that
Mysores were boomed and quoted on the Jerusalem

* Made from a kind of nettle, Urtica tenadssiJiia.
f Gynocardia odorata.

% S&t Journal of the Society of Arts, March, 1879, paper by John
R. Jackson.

20 — 2

3o8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Stock Exchange when dwellers on the Thames were
naked savages in dug-out canoes. The champak-tree*
grows near the Cave of Mahadeo. It is celebrated in
Oriental poetry, and has a sweet-scented flower sacred
to the Hindu deities. Sandal-wood, well known in
Indian cabinet work, is from a tree occasionally found in
the Satpuras,t but more often in Madras and Mysore. Its
scent is very familiar to everyone. There is another
minor product from the harra-tree {Terminalia chebula),
the fruit of which is used for tanning leather.

In the Forest Report, Central Provinces, 1898-1899, it is
stated that the annual export of harra from these pro-
vinces to Bombay is 143,227 tons, and its value 12 annas
per maund of 80 pounds.

Bamboos, of which 9,000,000 were cut in the same year, J
constitute a considerable article of use. It has been
proved that bamboo pulp produces the very best of paper,
so that there is an unlimited field for the cultivation and
disposal of this easily-grown product. The list of minor
products of these forests includes charcoal and grass,
which produce annually a very large revenue.

The high plateau of the Mahadeo is a great mass of
sandstone rock, lying almost horizontal, but denudated
by the processes of nature, which have cut away the softer
portions, leaving peaks and precipitous bluffs of quaint
shapes, with sudden deep chasms between great cliffs,
so narrow that they look as if one might almost step
across. Down below are caves dark and unexplored,
save by Baloo and Bagheera, overhung by the graceful

* Michelia champaca.

"f" Santalum albtttn.

\ Bamboos are floated down to the coast on rafts in enormous
quantities, and exported largely. In the teak forest districts the
timber, which is too heavy to float, is buoyed up by large bundles of
bamboos tied under the rafts.

THE BORI FOREST 309

fronds of lovely delicate tree-ferns. This is the con-
tinuation of the Seoni hills, where Rudyard Kipling has
laid the scene of his inimitable jungle stories. Stretching
away in the hazy distance one can discern nothing but
unbroken forest, range after range of timber-clad undula-
tions, and to the horizon still dense forest.

Beneath our feet yawns the caiion of Andeh Ko.
Another crevasse, called Jambo-dwip, lies below Pach-
mari. To the west lies the Bori forest reserve. To
climb down the steep path by a narrow channel cut in the
rock is by no means an easy task, but just possible for
a hill pony. Elephants, lightly laden with tent and a few
necessaries, took several hours in getting down as many
miles, holding on like monkeys and balancing themselves
on ledges of the steep rock.

We are entering one of those strange depressions,
appearing to have no entrance and no apparent exit,
which geologists cannot explain. It widens out into a
broad valley with almost level bottom, and high walls of
rock stand on every side. Lower down a beautiful river
of clear water winds across the shingly flats. Here grow
large forest trees of great variety and beauty — sagwan
(teak), siassa (rosewood)*, saj, bjjasal,t and arjun| with
smooth white pillar-like stem towering to a great height.
There are great clumps of feathery bamboos and beautiful
groves of sissoo ;§ also, standing alone and rising head and
shoulders above the others, towers the great semal,|| with
its extraordinary buttresses. Here is a typical Indian
forest, which appears untouched by the devastating hand
of man. The complete exclusion of jungle fires, which had

* Dalbergia latifolia.

t Pterocarpus inarsupiutn, which yields the gum kino of commerce.

X ' Kahua,' Terminalia arjuna.

^ Dalbergia sissoo.

II Bombax heptaphylbtm.

3IO THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

been successfully carried out for some years previously,
certainly showed its effect, as fine saplings, grown from
seed, of teak and other sorts were plentiful through the
forest. The long grass formed a close covert in the open
flats, and wild animals of all sorts lived in peace.

This forest took a long time to inspect, and days were
spent just wandering through the reserve, which was
pretty extensive, and climbing the heights, sometimes on
an elephant, sometimes on foot ; always accompanied by
old Boodoo and the forest jamadar and some watchers,
of whom there was a good staff, and whose business it
was to clear the great open line, which had been cut in a
complete circle all round, of weeds and jungle grass,
which would otherwise carry the jungle fire into the sacred
precincts. To describe the numerous encounters with
every sort of wild beast would be monotonous, but I will
just endeavour to picture one day. At daviTi a faithful
makhna (tuskless) elephant, called Malunga, is kneeling at
the tent door while the pad is being ' kinched.' Malunga
is a good steady hati about lo feet 6 inches high, a very
tall, long-striding, active, and sensible beast, belonging to
the Forest Department. The Duke of Connaught rode
him when the great hank took place in these hills. A
chaprasi holds up the big, ever-moving tail, on which a
foot is placed as a step to clamber on to the pad. Mail
is elephant language for ' march,' which Malunga proceeds
to do, having elevated himself off his knees, a process
which obliges the occupants of the pad to hold on hard
by the ropes. We are going up the valley, crossing a
series of jungle-clad slopes on the left of the river, and
inspect the land for timber trees. Silently and smoothly,
but with a rocking sway, Malunga forges ahead, his
mahout guiding him gently by touches of the great toe in
the back of his great floppy ears. Thick bamboo jungle

THE BORI FOREST 311

and fine young teak-trees alternate with bare grassy
patches.

We cross the river, and meet at the three semal-trees
half a dozen Gonds and watchers, who have been sent on
by Boodoo. We begin to ascend the opposite hill now
on foot, as it is too steep for an elephant. Here are fine
trees of all sorts ; and, gaining the heights some 1,000 feet
above the valley along a regular bison track, we wind in and
out among ridges and rocky valleys. Boodoo is anxious
to procure a specimen of the great gaur or bison, and points
to the fresh tracks on the path of their great broad,
horny feet, and the top shoots of shrubs freshly nipped off
and thrown on the ground. They point towards the
ghat which leads to another watershed, with valleys
sloping away to the south. The sun's rays are now hot,
and the breeze comes up the valleys. I am placed on
the ghat concealed among rocks, while Boodoo takes his
men a circuit in the valley, hoping to head the herd of
bison and drive them back over the ghat. Alas for the
uncertainty of events ; there is with the bison an elephant
which has escaped from captivity ! The bison have good
noses but small ears. They cannot hear sounds so well
as an elephant. They keep together for mutual advan-
tage, and hati is breaking down bamboos with his trunk
for the gaurs to browse upon. I can hear the cracking
not far below the ghat. Presently there comes one of
those curling winds called ' devils,' moving against the
breeze down the ghat. There was a rush through the
brushwood, the rattling of stones, the noise of many hoofs
stampeding, and the trumpet of an elephant. The clever
big brutes had scented the presence of white men, and
were rushing, not up the ghat, but down and away.
Boodoo shortly returned, having seen ten fine gaurs and
a small elephant pass him within a few paces. The same

312 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

evening, when returning down the valley, crossing ridges
among heavy timber, with Boodoo leading, we started
a sambur stag. He rushed across the hollow and stood
on the next ridge listening for a moment, affording me a
nice shot behind the shoulder with the 14-bore rifle. He
fell to the shot, and never moved. This was the finest
sambur of my bag, 42-inch horns, 41-inch spread, 8^ inches
round the beam, a very rare size.

I had two German bloodhounds {schweiss - hund),
called Hirschman and Hela, brought from the Harz
mountains, which became very useful for tracking deer.
Fastened by a leash, one of them would follow on the
line, carefully nosing the ground where a wounded buck
had gone, and pulling hard to get on, old Boodoo holding
the strap, for long distances. Boodoo trusted his own
tracking far more, and did not believe in scent, which he
did not think much of as dogs in India run by sight
mostl}^

When riding an elephant in the open sal jungles below
the Bori forest, I had the unwonted fortune to meet
and shoot a very line specimen of the big swamp deer
or barasingha, with 12-tined horns and about the size
of the sambur. He stood for a moment gazing at the
elephant in an open glade, his great, wide-spreading
antlers resembling Landseer's picture of the red deer
on the hill.

The next visit to the Bori forest was to collect timber
for building, and to explore a fine sal forest lower down
the valley, where great stems 100 feet high and 8 feet
in girth existed ; but these rare and useful trees grew in
land belonging to a Rajah. Anyone might easily tell
Government forest by the big old trees having all dis-
appeared.

I was crossing one day an open space in the Bori valley

THE BORI FOREST 313

near the river, where low jungle grass grew, all yellow and
dry, when, as so often happens in Indian forests, I had a
surprise and experience quite new. Shikaris had often
spoken of the sone kutte (wild dogs), which hunt in packs
and drive every kind of game clean out of the jungle,
never leaving the doomed victims of their persevering
pursuit till death puts an end to the chase. I had never
come across a pack of wild dogs, though I had heard from
the natives of their presence both in the Himalayas and
in the plains, during an experience of eight or nine years,
and I had met no British officer who had actually seen
a pack himting.

It was therefore a matter of great interest to see, from
the elephant which I was riding, a whole line of red dogs,
about the size of harriers, but with more the appearance
of wdre-haired, prick-eared terriers, regularly drawing the
covert in front of me. They have rufous-coloured backs
and hairy sterns held straight out like a fox, which are
easily seen just showing in the thick grass. They were
beautifully fanned out across the covert, and a few
watchers were stationed at its end, like whips, to tally the
game away. Occasionally one or two would sight some
animal, perhaps a small deer, and they would bound in
the air to view over the top of the feathery grass. They
got on the line of something, and ran it out at the end and
across the bed of the shallow river, disappearing into high
jungle at the other end ; but they ran quite silent, giving
no tongue. I followed on rapidly, but lost view of them
after they crossed the river. They were about forty in
number, and all alike, a hungry-looking, black-nosed,
active pack.

My tent was pitched close to the river on the flat. Sit-
ting at night outside the tent by a pleasant fire, I heard
strange sounds in the jungle. First the belling of a

314 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

sambur stag, loud and sonorous, from the hill above the
valley, answered by other calls ; then the dismal howling
of the gidar log (jackals). Boodoo, with ears on the
strain, sat smoking his hubble-bubble (a cocoa-nut with a
bamboo mouthpiece), wrapped in his only garment, a
black blanket. Among the many animals there was
khahar (news) going round, ' Sone kutte ai giaP (' the jungle
dogs are here!'). The old jungle man could read and
interpret what each warning note signified. Peacocks
roosting in the tall trees craned their necks and could not
sleep, uttering a sharp ' Ping !' and occasionally changing
their position to a higher perch. There is a hollow
vibrating sound in the air, coming first from one direction,
then from the opposite side. Boodoo pointed to great
rocks cut sharp against the sky : ' Bagheera ' is there
watching, the skulking panther ; ' Baghi ' the tigress is
calling to her cubs to hasten — ' a — i — a — o — u ' (with
the accent on the a) is her hollow, deep drawn-out cry.
' So7ie kutte ai gia P it all means — ' the plaguy red dogs
are on the trail hunting. It is time to clear out of the
Bori jungle.' There are noises of the rush of a herd of
frightened sambur on the hill high up, and the rattling
of stones. Even the big heavy bison are on the move
for quieter quarters.

We are wakened several times in the night by splashing
in the river bed or the snarl of our dogs tied in the porch
of the tent. The morning star, by which Boodoo tells
the hour, has risen over the hill, and is now fading in the
dawn of approaching day. His shiny face, with its black,
snake-like locks, round which a scanty dirty rag is wound
for the sake of manners, is put in at the tent door : ' Sahib,
sahib ! sone kutte ai gia /' At the same moment the rush
of an animal is heard at the river bank, and the air is filled
by the most unearthly shrill squeals, piercing, and followed

THE BORI FOREST 315

by a short, sharp bark and another chorus of squeals.*
' Jaldi, sahib — Jaldi /' {' haste, haste !'). We rush out,
and, carefully advancing through long grass, approach
the bank of the river, shaded by great trees. There is
just daylight enough to see a sight which is given to few
to see, the death of the hunted stag, which has been
chased by forty hell-hounds for perhaps days — a noble
beast, which has used every wile in vain, and has been
fairly run into in the bed of the stream. He is at bay in a
deep pool, and has tossed several on the points of his horns ;
but there are others, which press on him from every side,
and fasten on his cheek, his neck, and hind-legs. Their
jaws, once locked in a vice-like grip, never let go. The
unequal struggle soon comes to an end, and the stag falls
at the river-bank to rise no more. Then ensues a general
melee, and every hound, with red tongue hanging out,
panting and snarling, rushes in to take his share, not
very particular whether he gets hold of a haunch of venison
or a piece of another hound. The fight once begun and
blood drawn, there is vengeance and fratricidal war, when
suddenly the report of my rifle rings out sharp, and the
fighting ceases. Another shot at a big sentinel dog which
has been sitting on the top of a rock, coolly licking himself,
and watching us without a particle of alarm. He falls
from his perch, and another dog takes his place. This
gentleman looks as if he was a good deal annoyed, and
the red hair bristles and stands on his back. He has
no idea of nmning away, but looks a warning to us to
come no nearer. The death-worry still proceeds, and
little is left of the stag. I fire another shot, and Boodoo
advises caution in approaching till the orgies are complete,
as he declares that if enraged the pack will attack us.

* It has been recently stated in the Field that these dogs are mute,
but I will vouch for the abo\'e.

3l6 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

They finish their meal, and dehberately, without hurry,
disperse, leaving some of their number dead or badly
wounded among the rocks. It is not wise to go too near
a wounded dog ; but at length we gather the spoils, two
good specimens, male and female.

I am very much pleased at securing these rare animals,
and trust the taking off the skins to no native skinner,
but skin them carefully myself.* For some time all
game seemed to have left the Bori forest, but this was
the last I saw of the pack. The amount of destruction
wrought by a pack of fifty or a hundred sone kutte among
the game of the forest must be considerable, especially
among the deer, which seem to be their principal quarry.
But the Gonds declare they will hunt and pull down any
animal, even to the lordly tiger. I have not heard of
their killing cattle, but they can tackle nilghai easily, and
pigs are their prey, and chital. The battle of an old boar
for his life must be a fierce and bloody affair, as his tusks
are very sharp, and he can use them. As one does not
hear of the wild dog being often shot, it seems likely that
they would increase in numbers rapidly. But they re-
main rare animals, from which it might be argued that
a good many are killed by boars or tigers in deadly fights.
They are certainly brave in their combined attack, and
seem not to fear even man.

There are several quaint old coloured prints in that
most fascinating book, Williamson's ' Sports of the East,'
published a century ago, depicting the attack of wild dogs
on a tiger ; showing that the Anglo-Indian sportsman of
those days — who is represented hunting in a top-hat — was

* These skins were set up by Rowland Ward in a large case, which
was exhibited at two Indian exhibitions in London and the South
Kensington Museum, and is now deposited on loan at the Natural
History Museum in Dublin. The wild dogs are fighting over the head
of the sambur.

THE BORI FOREST 317

familiar with the sone kutte. They are drawn much too
smooth-coated and not red enough, but otherwise about
right. By-the-by, the artist who drew the wild buffaloes
could never have seen one, as he makes the horns to curl
back like those of an ibex. When a child, I remember
well taking immense delight in that old book, which was
kept on a shelf and only shown as a great treat to extra-
good boys.

The hunting instinct is easily developed in the youthful
mind by such books ; and that a period comprising ten
years of my hfe was spent in the forests of India, in imme-
diate contact with nature in its most interesting and
wildest phases, had something to say to the pictures in
Williamson. The books of Catlin, and, later, Gordon
Gumming,* assisted in stimulating the taste for hunting,
which, combined with a love of plants and trees, conspired
to make practical work in the forests most fascinating.
That such was my lot I can never regret. That it was
cast under the guidance of old Indian officers in times
when the services could still boast of such names as
Lawrence, Golvin, Drummond, Dalhousie, and, not least,
Ramsay, I look on as a great honour. That the love of
the chase is compatible with perseverance in sterner
work I have proved. That nothing but benefit to mind
and body accrues from enthusiastic participation in the
chase, even the more artificial one of the fox, I am firmly
convinced. Young men who have to fight the battles
of their coimtry can have no better training than the
chase, to knit the muscles and develop them to the best

* I have not visited that former paradise of hunters, South Africa,
but I have hunted the bison of America when millions wandered over
its vast prairies, and I have shot the great wapiti stag in the Rockies,
and the big-horn ram, which comes very near the Ovis Amnion, so
that the interest awakened by those old books did not completely
languish.

3i8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

advantage, to train the eye and mind to quick sympathy
and action. The love of the chase and of horses, acquired
in the saddle, is certainly to both youth and maiden an
exhilarating, health-giving passion, and to those advanced
in years it is an abiding source of interest and a rejuven-
ating influence. To those who would choose a career of
usefulness, where earnest work can be relieved by active
and wholesome recreation, I can recommend no service
more suitable than the Indian Forest Service, one full of
interest and of great promise for the benefit of mankind
in future generations, I must not conclude these recol-
lections without doing honour to the name of one to
whose scientific and untiring energy the Government of
India is indebted for the establishment and organization
of its Forest Departments on the best principles ; I allude
to Inspector-General Dr. (now Sir Dietrich) Brandis,
under whom I had the pleasure of serving. If from un-
avoidable circumstances connected with ill-health I was
obliged to terminate my connection with the Department
sooner than I otherwise should have done, just as I was
getting into the swing of executive forest work, I can only
say that the loss was my own, and that such things are
unavoidable. But I can look back with sincere pleasure
on the ten years of my service, and can believe that I shall
never spend happier years than those which I had the
good fortune to spend in the forests of India.

APPENDIX

ON THE SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS

On my taking furlough in Europe, after seven years' employment

in India, I received permission from the India Office, on the Visit to Ger-

. man State

recommendation of Dr. Brandis, to go through a course of forests.

instruction in Hanover. Having spent some time there, receiving

lectures and practical instruction, I had the good fortune to

accompany the Inspector-General on his annual tour of inspection

through the Harz mountains. We drove in a carriage and pair The Harz.

for miles by smooth roads, which wound upwards among endless

groves of pines,* in squares of different ages, standing as close

together as they could stick, all planted in rows. Every row was

as straight as a line, vistas running forwards in endless perspective,

left and right, as far as the eye could reach. What a revelation

to one direct from the Himalayas, where no two trees are of the

same kind or the same age, and all are located by chance, as

Nature sowed them. This was the Harz forest, the birthplace of

forest lore.

The country was divided like a chess-board into revier Hochwaid-be-

(districts), each under its separate officer and management. A wood culture.'

district is roughly i ,coo morgen, or acres. The rotation prescribed

for trees like spruce is loo years. The district is divided into ten

stripes, or squares, corresponding to each decade of the century,

during which period the proper square or stripe, where the oldest

mature trees are, is felled and disposed of, and the ico acres

involved are replanted in rows, each row and each tree 3 feet

apart. There are nurseries for seedlings, whence the planting

out is done. The decade is again subdivided, so that 10 acres

* Fichten and Tamten. The abies and picea of Europe, spruce and silver
fir, which make white deal, corresponding with Aines Smithiana and Picea
Webbiana of India.

320

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Rule of thin-
ning.

Protection
from wind.

Rule for pro-
duction of
timber.

are cut down and lo acres replanted each year. Thus, at the
end of the century every square has had a full crop of mature
timber taken off it and been replanted with a new crop. The
rule for thinning, which is also carried out at stated periods, is to
cut out the overshadowed stems. Thus, the surviving trees are
chosen by natural selection, and the master trees only remain.
The heads of the trees are always seeking the daylight, and thus
the most rapid lengthening out is attained, and the side branches
are crushed and drop off as they decay, leaving a straight-grained
tree, free from knots. Thinning out is then performed, to let in
air and light and promote the thickening process. The sale of
thinnings pays all the expenses, and at the end of the loo years
the ground carries from loo to 150 mature trees to each acre, of
a value of, say, j[^\ per tree.*

The rent of this land for grazing might be about 5s. yearly per
acre, so that from one acre of forest there is a revenue of over ;!^ioo
in 100 years, or j[,\ per acre yearly instead of 5s. There is an
important consideration always to be acted on — that of the effect
of the prevailing wind. The tallest trees must always have the
next tallest plot to windward of them, to protect them from the
storm ; and so the plots are arranged in steps like stairs, each older
lot being guarded by a younger lot, while the youngest lot is
sheltered by the oldest of the next series of steps.

There is another important consideration in a ' working plan '
recorded in the books, with dates and areas of cutting and
planting prescribed for all time to come : that, at the end of any
rotation period, the capital value of the stock-in-trade — i.e.^ the
growing timber — must be fully maintained, or even improved, so
that the annual yield, representing the interest of that capital, is a
source of revenue as regular as clockwork to the State which owns
the forest. The rule is that the zuwachs, or growth of timber of
the district, must never be outstepped by the bentitzung, or yield
of timber.

In private forests, and those worked under the system adopted
in Great Britain and her colonies, the end of a working period is
often the end of the forest. Interest and principal are generally
gone, or in the more favourable cases the stock is deteriorated by

* It has been found that land that is not worth more than 8s. per acre for
grazing will pay far better to plant.

APPENDIX

want of supervision and foresight, until practically nothing is left
of any market value or benefit to the country. It must be so,
because generations of men are much shorter than the lives of
trees. Therefore forests will never be managed to the advantage
of the country except by State regulation. The Wirthschaft Flan,
or ' working plan,' is the keystone of forestry, and without this
foundation everything is haphazard and futile.

The perfection to which forest management is brought in the
Harz mountains is most striking. Every plot of land has its
place in the general scheme, and everyone knows what is to be
done next. The healthful, muscle-producing employment given
to a large, thriving population is a source of great strength to the
country, and exactly the right quantity of timber and firewood is
produced on the spot to supply the market, which is not flooded
at one time and starved at another. Such is a forest district
' working plan ' on the Hochwald principle, as found to perfection
in Germany.

I had the honour of reading a paper on Forestry before the
Society of Arts in 1872, in which I strongly advocated the
adoption in England of scientific forestry. The discussion which
followed showed that the learned disputants had come there to
air their eloquence, not from interest in forest culture, but in
opposition to its introduction into Crown forests ; and that by
forest principles they meant the rights of owners of pigs to graze
them in the New Forest, and of every man who lived near to
carry away top and lop for firewood.

It is strange that the British people, so shrewd and enterprising
in trade, seems never to look further ahead than what concerns
each man's own immediate profit. The manufacturing classes, to
inflate their own gains, have selfishly eaten up the landed interest
and impoverished the agricultural class. The mining classes are
frantically engaged in exhausting the mineral stores of Nature.
We English have destroyed the fine forests once covering our
hills, and are blind to the fact that hacking down the trees (to
which, in the colonies, is given the significant name of ' lumber ')
all over the world, and planting none, means timber famine in the
future. Experts declare it a very near future. Yet not a move
has yet been made by the British Government to restore British
forests or educate foresters scientifically, and it is only at the

21

Importance of
the Wirth-
schaft Plan, or
'working plan.'

Forest princi-
ples misunder-
stood in Eng-
land.

British want of
foresight and
selfishness.

322

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

British legisla-
tion destructive
to forests.

Loss of carbon
in England.

Warnings
given by forest
experts.

expense of the Itidian Government that a soHtary forest school
has been estabHshed in England.* ' But land legislation in
Ireland and succession laws have been recently framed so as to
protect the few private forests in the country ?' No, not at all ;
rather to place a premium on their destruction. All other
countries in Europe have taken the forests under Government
management. Germany and France have many forest schools.
England alone has done nothing. Immense wealth may be
extracted from coal-mines and gold-mines, but when they are
exhausted they have no recuperative power, and the mining
population must perish out of the country. But forests, if
planted, will always be growing and extracting carbon from the
air for future use, which carbon is essential to man. Millions of
tons of it are being dissipated and wasted in the form of carbonic
oxide from coal consumption, at a pace which must bring it to an
end in England within a measurable distance of time.

In this matter, as well as in trade, Germany and other countries
are steadily taking up the advantages for the future which the
British throw away. In Dr. Schlich's ' Manual of Forestry ' there
is a table (p. 54) which shows that the percentage of forest in
Germany is o'26 of the whole land, while the British Isles have
only o"4 per cent. Russia has 0*42, Sweden 0-35, France o'i6,
Norway 025. These enormous forest areas are drawing from the
air the carbon which is being lost to England by coal combustion,
lost irretrievably to us. Enormous areas in England and Ireland
are lying practically waste, which might grow the finest of timber
and recover a share of the lost carbon.

The journal of the Society of Arts in London records no less
than seven most interesting and authoritative papers on Forestry
in recent years,t each of them describing the fatal progress of
forest destruction wrought by the Anglo-Saxon race in the last
thirty years, and strongly urging on our Government to follow the
example of other nations before it is too late. At the meeting of
the British Association at Oxford in 1894 Professor Bayley

* At Cooper's Hill. There is also a lecturer at Edinburgh.

f ' Papers on Forestry,' by Colonel Wragge, December, 1871 ; by Sir R.
Temple, January, 1881 ; by Colonel Pearson, March, 1882; by P. L. Simmonds,
February, 1885; by Dr. Schlich, February, 1890 ; by General Michael,
December, 1894 ; by D. E. Hutchins, November, 1899 ; and Dr. Schlich, 1901 .

APPENDIX 323

Balfour delivered an address on forests, in which are these words:
' That the possibility of forest exhaustion is no chimera should be
evident to anyone conversant with current timber literature.'
The address shows that in the Baltic States, whence most of our
timber supply comes, the virgin forests are practically exhausted,
and both Sweden and Norway have begun importing from
America. ' But it is not only in Northern Europe that there are
signs of the giving out of timber forests'; Canada will soon be
scarcely able to supply the American demand, and the United
States Official Department of Forestry report for 1892 stated that
'the end of the whole supply of both Canada and the United
States is now plainly in view.' This was ten years ago, and A commence-
since then things have got worse. There has, however, been a colonies,
start made in some British colonies. In Cape Colony a Forest
Department has been established. Forest organization was started
in Natal, but allowed to collapse, so that three-quarters of its fine
indigenous forests are destroyed. The kauri forests of New
Zealand, uniquely magnificent, have been wantonly devastated,
and the splendid jarra forests of Australia* are being rapidly
used up in the paving of London streets, to make the fortunes of
men who never planted a tree.

The able paper on National Forestry by D. E. Hutchins, the National
enthusiastic Conservator of forests of Cape Town, read before the mended.^'^'^°"^'
Society of Arts in November, 1899, sets before the public some
curious facts. The timber which Britain buys every year from
abroad, to the value of ^^20, 750, 000, could be grown in England
on land which now produces almost nothing, bare bleak moor and
mountain, where the soil is getting more and more washed away for
lack of shelter. The interest of the National Debt is 25 miUions, Profitable in-
which could be paid out of the profits of the forests if they existed ^^^'™^"^-
to the extent of one-tenth of the surface. Germany has one acre
of forest to every three. England has now only one in every
twenty-five, and that one acre only third class, badly managed
plantation. The plantations of England can scarcely count as
forests, as they are not managed on any plan, and are liable to be
worked out of capital, or cut down at the caprice or necessity of

* A Forest Department has been lately started in New South Wales and
Victoria, also in South Australia and Tasmania, which it is hoped may save
these forests from complete destruction.

21 — 2

324

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Provides em-
ployment

and military
material.

Improved
climate.

private owners, besides being taxed so heavily for succession duty
that owners are forced to cut them. England is at a loss of over
25 millions annually in forest products ; and not only so, but she
has lost the entire capital which a well-stocked forest represents.
In other words, if English waste lands were fully afforested, the
capital value would be about 200 millions. The capital value of
German State forests alone is 900 millions sterling.*

Further, the loss to the country is enormously greater, if the
employment which would be provided in the production of home-
grown timber is taken into account. As in Germany, a population
of well paid and hardy forest workers would be maintained in the
State forests free of cost to the nation, available for military
service, equivalent to the entire present British army, which costs
the country 30 millions annually, and in peace-time can perform
no productive labour, f Thus, if British statesmen were to take
up the matter of re-afforesting on the same lines as the State
forests of Germany, the money invested by the State (say i million
annually for the first thirty-five years, after which the forests would
begin to pay) would become a source of certain and ever-increasing
profit to the State, and also save the taxpayer vast sums, and solve
the great problems of rural population and army organization.

There is another advantage of having waste lands all over the
country planted : that the temperature of well-timbered countries
is less subject to extremes of cold in winter, also that the roots of
trees dry up swampy land and moisture becomes less excessive, f
And, furthermore, that a country which is supplied with belts of
timber is in time of war incomparably more easily defended than
an open country. And, by having State forests in the neighbour-
hood of large towns, the poor people would have the advantage
of healthy air and sylvan recreation-grounds within easy reach of
their dwellings, which private parks do not afford.

* See Professor Hutchins' paper ; also ' Manual of Forestry,' by Dr. Schlich.

t In the 'Manual of Forestry,' Dr. Schlich calculates (page 114) that when
the proposed area comes under forest management the State will be employ-
ing 100,000 forest labourers, men used to hard out-of-door work. These would
form a military reserve worth, for fighting, double the number of factory or
town-reared soldiers. Forest industries would employ four times that number.
In (jcrmany about 12 per cent, of the population are employed in forest
industries.

+ See experiments made in Germany, by double stations of observation in
forest and open land, described in Professor Schlich's ' Manual,' page 32.

land.

APPENDIX 325

It may be asked where the land to plant is to come from. Proposals to

™, , . re-afforest Eng-

1 he reply is easy. land and ire-

Out of 56 million acres in Great Britain, there are only 16 million
under crops and 16 million pasture, leaving a balance of 24 million
acres of waste mountain, heath, and moor, a good deal of which is
of small economic value, and admirably suitable for timber
growing. In Ireland there are 4 million acres under crops, 11
million pasture, and the balance of 6 million is almost all barren
bog and mountain. According to the Recess Committee,
3 million of these are available for planting. Mr. Hutchins puts
the amount of forest to be taken under State management, in
order to supply timber at home, as 9 million acres. Dr. Schlich
puts it at 6 million for the three kingdoms, which would leave
ample areas for sheep-grazing, which the importation of frozen
mutton renders less profitable. Sheep land gives employment to
perhaps one shepherd on 1,000 acres, which, if under forest, would
pay four times the present rent, and give employment to a very
large population.*

Land which is so poor in quality as to be almost worthless for
agriculture, will grow very fine timber. Chemical research has
shown that the mineral and chemical constituents in the soil
required to grow an acre of field crops is 235 lb., while on an acre
growing trees for timber, only 19 lb. is required yearly. Of the
substances potash and phosphates, trees require one-twentieth only
of the quantity required by field crops (Schlich's 'Manual,' p. 200).
It may be asked, How is the State to find the one million a year
which, according to Mr. Hutchins' scheme, is required to plant the
proper amount of land — 300,000 acres yearly — to rehabilitate the
forests? The reply is, In exactly the same way that money is
found for any other profitable investment ; but as the State will be
the ultimate gainer both in annual revenue and the building up of
an enormous property of immense capital value, which indi-
viduals could not live long enough to profit by, so the State,
which can borrow at the lowest rate, can with advantage find the
money. This is not only perfectly sound finance, but it is an
imperative duty of the State, which will have to be performed
sooner or later, as timber from abroad comes to an end. It is

* The chair-making industry in the beech-woods of Buckinghamshire
employs 30,000 people.

326

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Timber of the
qest only grown
by proper
management.

British climate
and soil ideal
for timber
growth.

significant that the consumption of timber in England (and in
America also) is increasing yearly at a regular and rapid rate,
while the sources of timber-supply are getting rapidly fewer. But
if England can save a pound by laying out a shilling she will not
lay out that shilling until absolutely compelled ; and for this style
of economy, or want of economy, called ' drifting,' the politicians
who opposed the scientific management of the New Forest, and
allowed its magnificent old trees to be lopped and burnt by the
commoners, are mainly responsible.

That England does not possess one single forest managed on
any plan of rotation* similar to the ordinary 'working plan,'
under which all the Continental forests have been brought to
their present condition of regular productiveness and renewal,
seems almost incredible. Yet it is a fact that none existed where
the pupils of the Indian forest-school could be trained in the
practice of forestry, and until lately! they had to go through the
course in Germany or France.

It has been objected that the timber grown in England is
inferior to foreign-grown pine and deal, so much so that in
Board of Works contracts home-grown timber is unpatriotically
excluded. On this point anyone who has studied the growth of
pine-trees in the natural forests of the Himalayas and the Rocky
Mountains can easily see that the inferiority of much plantation-
grown timber is due to the ignorance of those who planted the
various kinds of pines in the wrong positions, and also to its
being grown too fast and coarse in the grain.

The mountains and moors and waste lands of Scotland, England,
Wales, and Ireland have a climate and soil quite ideal for the
growth of larch, spruce, and pine timber, if care is taken to treat
them according to Nature's laws. Scotch fir, as grown in
plantations, is perishable, loose-grained stuff, entirely unfit for
joiners' work. This is timber grown wrongly. But in the bogs
in Ireland, lying under 20 feet of peat, are found Scotch fir
stems of great length and thickness, which may have lain there
10,000 years, the timber of which is perfectly sound, fine-grained,

* Within a few years three or four private owners have had 'working plans'
constructed.

f A strip of Windsor Great Forest has now been granted to the Cooper's
Hill College, which will be brought into rotation in a century to train the
pupils in

APPENDIX 327

heavy, solid, and straight, and so excellent that it is used by
coach-builders as superior to Memel or the finest mahogany. I
have measured the butts of such trees in situ which girthed 20
feet. It is the age, method of growth, and proper position which How valuable
make the sound close-grained timber. In the Black Forest there timber can be
are some rocky hillsides specially planted with common fir, grown produced.
close together in a dense grove, very tall, and with no side
branches. These trees, from the rocky nature of the soil and the
northern aspect, have taken perhaps 150 years to grow a couple
of feet thick; but the grain is close and fine— like box-wood
almost — and the timber is worth nearly its weight in silver for
making sounding-boards for violins and pianos.

The great industry of splitting spruce into thin sheets for
making band-boxes, which employs thousands of people in
Germany, is dependent entirely on the timber being suitably
grown, which is as easy as can be when you know how.

It can be seen that forestry is not merely learning to handle
an axe and spade, or to plant trees by rule all alike. Amateur
planters of trees for ornament, and private owners of forests or
woods in England, where every man is free to do what he likes
with his own, can in the nature of things know or care very little
about the economical production of timber for the use of the
country in time to come. Growing wheat in a flower-pot in a green-
house is not the same thing as growing wheat for the market on the

most approved agricultural principles. Yet this has been very like State forestry

^^ ° . , . J J the proper

the old-fashioned English system of timber-growmg recommended remedy.

in Brown's book, and is not correct forestry. And it is certainly

the function of the State to own and manage the forests of Great

Britain, as done by every other Government in Europe.

In travelling through Canada and the North-Western States, Destruction of

° , r . t -c ^ forests on the

where recently the country was one vast forest ot magniticent American Con-
trees, which had taken centuries to grow, one now sees nothing "nent.
but charred and blackened stumps; and the annual forest fires
destroy timber in a few days worth hundreds of millions, while
nothing is ever replanted. The very valuable so-called Spanish
mahogany, which used to be imported from the equatorial regions
of America, has almost ceased to exist, so much so that old
Chippendale furniture is considered, from the excellence of its
old dark timber, more solid and durable than modern-made

328

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Instances of
decay of coun-
tries where the
forests have
been cut down
and fertility of
the soil lost.

mahogany furniture. The recently imported mahogany is quite
inferior, simply because the old trees were recklessly felled, and
no renewal of the forest attempted.

Spain is a country which once was covered with the finest oak,
pine, and chestnut trees. Now one may travel through Spain and
see nothing but stumps, from which the branches are cut yearly
for firing, or bare mountain sides, scorched by the sun, and with
the once fertile loam all washed away by the rain, till nothing is
left but sand and rock. The extremes of heat and cold are thus
accentuated, as well as the extremes of drought and flood, which are
necessarily excessive in a treeless country. The people are badly
clothed and fed, and the houses built of cold stone, as timber is
almost unprocurable. Such is the condition of a country where the
forests have been exhausted. Italy and Sicily (where Hiero once
built his 4,000-ton ship), celebrated for their forests and their
navies, and also Greece, are in similar plight, and are reckoned
among nations once the most powerful and prosperous, now fallen
from their high estate and reduced to extreme financial distress
and almost to decay ; and their people are, in unfavourable
contrast with those of Germany and France, the most struggling,
overtaxed, and poverty-stricken peoples in Europe.

England relies on her maritime position and commercial pros-
perity exactly as these countries did, which makes it easy at present
to import the timber and other articles of consumption and
food that she requires rather than grow them at home. History
relates how countries which have relied on such facilities
and neglected to keep up home production, but permitted
the soil to lose all the shelter that Nature gave it, have
inevitably fallen from prosperity sooner or later. This is a
reflection that is worthy of the attention of England's statesmen.
Already the agricultural population, the backbone of a country's
defence and prosperity, is in a very sorry condition ; and in
Ireland there is a perpetual sore.

The tendency of countries to fall from their pristine state of
fertility and consequent prosperity when the forests which clothed
and sheltered the surface have been tampered with is further ex-
emplified by the present dried-up condition of Rajputana and Sind.
Famines in India are due to forest denudation. The ancient
writings of the Ramayana show that these countries were once

APPENDIX 329

covered with forest and fertile, though now dried-up and desert.
The same story is told of the region of the great Assyrian Empire,
once flourishing, now fallen to decay. Beneath the drifting sands
of the Gobi desert Dr. Sven Hedin discovered the dwellings of a
teeming population, whose cities, built of timber, stood on a fertile
and well-watered plain. Now a few tamarisk bushes alone are
found half buried in the dunes, and the great rivers of the central
plateau are lost in ever accumulating and ever drifting sand.
The absence of vegetation reacts on the climate, and the dry
climate reacts on the water-supply, until absolute desert is the
result.

Such a catastrophe is not likely to happen in the British Isles,
where the moist airs from the Atlantic assist vegetation ; but, in
a modified degree, the loss of shelter occasioned by absence of
timber and the baring of the soil to the vicissitudes of climate
must cause a great loss of fertility. Even close to the sea, in the
Landes, a great area of Southern France was becoming a desert
until it was planted with Pinus marithna.

The same treatment of immense areas of waste land reclaimed
from the Baltic in the Heide of North Germany, where Scotch
fir timber is grown now to the value of ^100 to the acre, is
another remarkable instance of the success of State forest culture
in restoring the forests and protecting the soil, whereby the
climate is beneficially affected.

The lessons to be learnt in the matter of forest culture from Lessons from

1 • 1- XT 1 • 1 • 1 /• . , observation of

observation 01 Nature, which assist the forester to arrive at the Nature in un-
most economical and successful methods of growing good crops forest's!^
of timber, are worthy of attention.

First, as to the position, aspect, and soil which suit the various Nature selects
kinds of trees. Nature makes an invariable rule that, wherever the position,
proper conditions exist, there the suitable kinds are to be found,
and are sure to flourish. For example, in the Himalayas the
southern sides of the ranges are clothed with oaks and deciduous
trees. On the northern slopes are silver fir and spruce, while the
lower sunny slopes are covered with the heat-loving Pinus
/ongzfolia, not mixed or jumbled up anyhow, but each separate
species in its own legitimate place. We do not see the wrong
species planted in the wrong place, with the invariable result
— unhealthy trees, stag -headed, decayed at the roots, and

330

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Natural distri-
bution of trees
of all ages and
in groups.

Calamities of
fire remedied
by Nature.

Great age of
naturally-
grown timber.

prematurely aged, while the timber is badly grown and worthless,
as in British-managed plantations.

In Nature we find all ages growing together on the same ground,
but mostly groups of different ages, according as the seedlings
have sprung where the seeds fell from the parent standards and
were scattered by the wind. Thus the saplings have been
forced up tall and straight in clusters, and never thinned out at
all. The stronger individuals overtop the weaker and crush
them, when they die and wither, not seeing the sky. This
secures straight, clean boles, free from knots ; and all the trees
remaining to grow to maturity are master trees, not weaklings.
The result is slowly grown, sound timber, very different to the
quickly grown, coarse, and unsound stuff found in mixed planta-
tions, which have been thinned out as if carefully to secure
branching heads and the most rapid and unhealthy incre-
ment.

This is the normal method of renewal, and the almost
universal one ; but as amongst human races calamities may
come and sweep away the whole population, so an entire forest
may be burnt down. This is a very frequent occurrence in the
Rocky Mountains, owing to the climate and the negligence and
interference of men. Nature provides even here a remedy. The
seeds which have remained in the ground begin to germinate
when they get the sun, and a complete new crop springs like a
carpet from the soil. Whether the seed always remains in the
soil or is transported from adjoining forests by the wind is not
determined, but I have seen the process going on over large areas
of spruce and silver fir and pine in the Rocky Mountains, the
seedling trees springing up amongst the fallen stems of the
previous growth so closely together (twenty or thirty to the square
yard) that the thicket was absolutely impenetrable to man or beast.
Such self-renovated forests are abundant in Western America, and
are easily known by the age of the trees being all alike. They
produce the most excellent timber when of mature age. The
tall trees stand like pillars, perfect cylinders, without branches,
though never thinned by the axe of man. Such timber takes a
long time to mature, and is of the best quality.

In Corsica, where some pine forests have escaped destruction
from their inaccessibility, there are still some trees, said to be

APPENDIX ■ 331

hundreds of years old, of magnificent proportions and excellent

quality. In California the great sequoia-trees of Mariposa are

computed to be 11,000 years old, and in Japan the cryptomerias

are of immense age. In India I have seen cedar-trees {deodard)

40 feet in girth and 250 feet high, the age of which must be 1,000

years or more ; and the mature spruce, cypress, and silver firs of

the upper Himalayan forests, judging from the number of their

rings, are often 350 years old. The chir and other indigenous

pines are not found so old, but I have counted the rings of many

first-class trees and found them all over 120 years, and often

260. In fact good timber cannot be grown rapidly.

The length of forest rotations proved by experience to be Lengths of

° '■ . rotation deter-

correct in Germany and France varies, accordmg to the capacity mined.

of the soil for growing the best construction timber or inferior

prop-wood or firing, from 250 to 70 years. The oak and beech

forests of the Spessart have a rotation of 250 years for the oak and

half that for the beech. The Hochwald systems in Germany and

France have rotations of from 100 to 120 years, while the inferior

lands, which grow coarse timber, are worked on the lowest 70

years' period. In the common or village forests, which are under

State management, 70 to 100 years is prescribed, as only farm

timber and firewood are grown.

The quantity of timber which can be produced on the ground

in a properly managed forest may also be learnt from Nature. I Quantity of

^ -^ ° . . timber carried

counted for years the trees per acre growmg m the Himalayan per acre,
natural forests. The average of one kind over considerable areas
did not come to more than thirty trees per acre, owing to the con-
formation of the hills and the patchy reproduction of each kind ;
but on suitable hill-slopes, where the spruce and silver fir occupied
the soil, I often counted 100 first-class trees growing on an acre,
besides all the saplings not counted. These were truly noble
giants of the forest, ranging from trees over 6 feet in girth to older
patriarchs of 12, and 200 feet high; having never been thinned
out, the stems were free from side branches for 100 feet. The
amount of the timber of the highest quality on an acre could not
have been less than 20,000 cubic feet. This in forest where
there was no management at all except that of Nature. In Hoch-
wald forests, managed scientifically, Dr. Schlich* states that the

* ' Manual of Forestry,' page 226.

23'^

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Natural mixed
forest.

Mixture by
groups.

average growing stock in a first-class forest in Germany has been
found to be on a fully stocked acre of —

Silver fir 17,400 cubic feet "i

Spruce 14,500 ,, > Age 120 years.

Scotch pine ... ... ... 9,780 ,, )

and he points out that where an acre is calculated to produce 100
trees, after all thinnings are over, these will thicken and mature
to an average of 100 cubic feet each in 100 years — that is, 10,000
cubic feet per acre. There are miles and miles of forests in
Germany which, when mature, will yield this steady average,
though, of course, on inferior soil the crop will be far lighter.
How many acres of plantation are there in Great Britain yielding
such a crop? For 100 acres which will carry that amount there
are probably a million of so-called plantation that will not average
per acre, when fit to cut, 3,000 cubic feet of inferior, coarse, and
mixed timber, the only reason being want of knowledge in
planting, thinning, and management, due to the exigencies of life-
ownership and the baneful influence of the Scottish system.

Regarding the mixing of different species on the same ground,
Nature teaches that, as a rule, each species occupies its own
position, depending on latitude, aspect, elevation, and soil. But
often two congenial species coincide in their choice of locality,
as in Europe spruce and silver fir keep to the cool slopes of hills
facing north, and are found highest up, while trees of the genus
J>{nu9 prefer the sunny sides of the hills and various elevations,
some higher, some lower. Where these areas overlap one another
there are mixed forests. Hard-wood trees, such as oaks, beech,
and acacias, have a greater tendency to mix. Deciduous trees
come in climates intermediate between evergreen pines and ever-
green tropical species, such as sal and saj, and among the immense
numbers of different species found in India there must be a more
or less mixed condition of the forest ; but such mixture is most
frequently by groups or patches, one sort following the sides of
streams, another preferring steep and rocky precipices, another
warm, sheltered valleys, another swampy flats, another dry uplands.
Differences of soil also induce certain varieties, and the nature of
the subsoil, whether sandy or clay or rocky, or of gravel or loose
boulders. Every change of species has a reason, and the effect
of given conditions is constant.

APPENDIX

333

In Nature there is no jumbling up of various incongruous
species over the whole forest, nor does one see starved and
unhealthy trees with withered tops and decayed at the roots, so
affected because they have been planted in a position unsuitable
to their kind. Some species will mix very well together ; an open-
headed, deciduous kind gaining by contact with a close-headed
kind, like pedunculate oak and beech, the latter improving the
soil by its copious leaf- fall. Also a species that loves the shade
of dark northern aspects, like silver fir, grows well with beech,
which kills down the sun-loving pines,* if wrongly mixed with
such. The only advantages of mixing different species in artificial
forests are that a judgment can be formed as to which tree grows
best, and the other kinds can be cut out. This is a clumsy and
unscientific method ; but in natural forest mixtures are usually by
groups, and it is not safe to plant trees in a jumble. If the
object is to cover the ground, mixtures may succeed, but if the
object is to grow the best timber — especially deals and pines — the
unmixed Highwood system is the one which, from its agreement
with Nature and its simplicity, is to be relied on as economical in
its working and, when once established, capable of yielding the
best results.

The dropping of seed by parent trees on the ground is found in
natural forests to be usually effective in keeping up an unfailing
supply of seedling plants, which grow up in masses wherever the
winged seeds are carried by the wind. In India the process,
when fires are excluded, goes on most successfully. Some years
are specially good seed years, and some, when the rain comes at
the right moment, are good years for germinating. In time the
whole area gets sown, and the young trees grow up so rapidly that
the dift'erences of age do not count much after a few years, and
the forest is renewed. Replanting is lesorted to in Highwood
systems, where it may be found to pay better. Natural seeding is
practised commonly, as less costly. It is promoted in Highwood
culture by leaving a few parent trees standing when the final crop
is being felled. These cast their seeds on the freshly bared land,
and the sun soon causes germination and a rapid growth of the
new crop sufficiently evenly over the land. Then the parent trees
are felled.

* Pinus silvestris.

Artificial mix-
tures must
follow Nature.

Economy of
unmixed High-
wood.

Nature's
methods of re-
planting.

334

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Nature's
method of thin-
ning to be imi-
tated in forest
management.

Wrong systems
of thinning.

Productive of
coarse, worth-
less timber.

Thinning is a most important operation, which the careful
observation of Nature's method alone can teach. It has been the
subject too often of mistakes and misunderstanding. The object
being to get the most valuable timber, and not coarse, worthless,
loose-grained stuff, the seedlings must be allowed to grow a head,
and not interfered with until the master trees have fought out
their battle for life and killed down the weaker ones.

In Highwood forest, where the seedlings grow very close
together, or where planting has been at 3 feet apart, the first thin-
ning will amount merely to taking out the dead poles, perhaps
at the thirtieth year. The complete canopy must be preserved
overhead, which draws up the young trees lean and straight,
until they attain nearly their full height and are standing about
6 feet apart, or 1,200 to the acre. The thinnings will then
take place at intervals of thirty years, care being taken to keep
the trees growing on in height. Finally, they are thinned out to
12 feet apart, or 200 to the acre, and then they begin to thicken,
which goes on for the rest of their time, either 100 or 120 years.
One hundred trees per acre is sometimes sufficient for the final
crop.

In countries where schools of scientific forestry do not exist,
and where neither owner nor forester knows on what system or
rotation he is working, or what was the mind of the original
planter — perhaps long since dead — thinning is usually conducted
after a method, or rather no method, which is entirely wrong.
The ideas inculcated are to thin out freely and give plenty of room,
in order that the trees may grow as fast as possible and develop
fine heads. Leaves are the lungs of the tree, by which it imbibes
carbon from the air and builds up its stern, so that abundant
foliage produces rapid thickening long before the stems have
cleaned themselves of knots, and the annual rings or layers of
fibre are put on so coarsely and thick that the timber will be
loose-grained and worthless. When after some years the un-
educated forester comes round, he marks these well-grown trees
as fit to cut, and the owner congratulates himself on having so
great a bulk of timber to sell. But the purchaser finds them
half sap and dozed at the roots, and unfit for joiners' work, upon
which he gives a very small price. And sage opinions are pro-
nounced that good deal or pine cannot be grown in Great

APPENDIX 335

Britain. But the fault is in the wrong and unscientific manage-
ment, and not the soil or climate.

The celebrated Norway pine, or red deal of commerce, is the Pine and deal

• T r. 1 /- 1 11 11 1 timber can be

same tree as our mdigenous Scotch nr, and can equally well be grown in Eng-
grown in England. If we examine a plank of good Norway red iu"'l^'\"^' '°
deal, or Memel, we find the layers of the grain or annual rings are
I o or 12 to the inch, all dark coloured, with no sap and few
knots. If we examine the rings of Scotch fir, thinned out too
early on Brown's principle, we find they are pretty close in the
centre. The year when the early thinning occurred is easily
discerned by the sudden widening out of the annual rings to
probably four to the inch. The heart-wood is like a dark core in
the centre, and outside is white sap-wood full of knots. Boards
cut out of such stuff are of quality the very worst. The stems of
the trees are thick, but very deficient in height, and scarcely pay for
sawing.* Douglas spruce, if grown close together, as in Vancouver
Island, where the climate is similar, will produce in this country
the most excellent of all spars and deals, 150 feet long. Corsican
pine would produce a pine -wood equal to American pitch-
pine. The qualities of larch, which grows to perfection in
England, are well known ; but though these trees are tolerably
rapid in growth, the attempt to force them up too quickly for
an early realization of their value has produced disease and
failure.

These lessons from Nature apply to all kinds of forests all the by NSfafd

in forest
* Here are the actual measurements of Scotch firs grown in Ireland : schools.

Gi-own 30 to the acre, with spreading
crowus.

Girth, 5 feet.

Height, 50 feet.

Age, 40 years.

Diameter, 20 inches.

Rings per inch, 4 (uneven).

Thickness of heart-wood, 12 inches.

Thickness of sap-wood, 8 inches.

These trees are very quickly grown
on deep, soft soil, liable to be blown

Grown 200 to the acre, with small
crozoTS.

Girth, 5 feet.

Height, 75 feet.

Age, 100 years.

Diameter, 20 inches.

Rings per inch, 10 (regular).

Heart-wood, 19 inches.

Sap-wood, I inch.

These trees were slowly grown on
a hillside on poor and stony soil ;

over, timber coarse, knotty, worthless, j standing together they resist storm,

and light and perishable, fully 4 inches Their timber is fine-grained, hard,

of sap-wood under the bark. 1 heavy, durable, and equal to the best

1 Memel, scarcely any sap-wood.

336

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Different
systems as sub-
jects of study.

Courses of
study in sub-
sidiary opera-
tions.

world over, and can be learnt by long and bitter experience, but
much more cheaply by studying at the forest colleges, where the
results of experience in every system can be compared. The
' Manual of Forestry,' by Dr. Schlich, is an excellent text-
book.*

I will only touch upon the various systems of getting timber
off the land in the most profitable way, as practised largely in
Germany, France, and other countries, to suit the different re-
quirements of different localities.

They are taught in forest schools as follows :

HIGH WOOD SYSTEM. WITH CLEAR CUTTING.

Renovation :

1. By planting.

2. By self-sown plants (by compartments, groups, and single trees).

Coppice wood :

1. With standards.

2. Without.

AUXILIARY SYSTEMS.

1. High forest with standards.

2. Two-storied high forest.

Then there are taught rules for mixing different species and
for renewing the proper kinds.

There are rules for managing forests where the trees are of one
age or two ages, of the same species and of different species, and
rules for managing forests where the trees are of all ages, to the
best advantage and on the most scientific principles.

The various methods of cutting the timber and transporting it
by slides and sledge-ways down to the rivers, as practised in the
V'osges and Black Forest, are taught, and are all-important to a
forester. Even the simple mechanical dodges for loading logs
on to carts, in which Americans are proficient, are worth studying.
The transport of timber over ice and snow, in which Canadians
excel, the floating of timber in streams at flood-time, whether at
the thaw, as in Canada, or by damming of the stream and
artificial floods, as practised in the Black Forest, are separate and
important forest operations. Then the forester must learn how
to construct big rafts, as on the Rhine and St. Lawrence, and

* Mr. Simpson's book, called ' The New Forestry,' is likewise excellent.

APPENDIX 337

float them down torrents and rapids to the sea. The building
and working of saw-mills, run by water-power or by steam, must
be studied, and the cutting up and final marketing of timber.

At the forest schools all possible requirements of the forester Profession of
are the subject of long and elaborate courses of study, besides
such subjects as mathematics, mensuration, and mechanics — in
short, a complete scientific education is given.

The profession of forestry is in Germany looked upon as on a
par with that of the barrister, engineer, or medical man, and,
being a State service, possesses permanent advantages and
emoluments.

England has allowed her forests to disappear — a very sad and Review of the
lamentable thing, in view of the fact that other countries in jn'^Britain.
Europe are utilizing the good gifts of Nature and bringing the
cultivation of timber to the highest perfection, for the benefit of
the people who dwell on the land and of the country generally.

The able-bodied population of the country is permitted in
England to flock to the towns and live like Chinamen in filthy
tenements, or, as in Ireland, to emigrate to the States and flood
our markets with American produce, while thousands of acres of
land which would grow splendid timber are lying derehct, and
the natural protection of the soil which trees afford is finally
disappearing.

While other countries of the world make laws and tariffs to Comparison
encourage the culture of every produce of the soil, and plant a European
thriving peasantry on the land, our politicians are too busy countries,
making laws for the protection of the labour monopolies of the
towns to pay any heed to the cry for protection of the tillers of
the soil, the stalwart but half-paid labourers on the land. The
result is the gradual exclusion of English manufactures from all
foreign markets, owing to dearness of operative labour, and the
disappearance of the country population and its dispersion across
the Atlantic. Add to this the ever-increasing drain on British
resources to purchase the wheat and timber no longer produced
at home, which must lead, in case of war, to disastrous famine
and collapse of all industry and desertion of the islands, which
have been swept clean of all that should, under natural conditions,
grow on the land. Coal and iron cannot be worked without
timber, and still less without wheat, and the population will

338

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Spurious free
trade depre-
cated.

Replanting
advocated.

Destructive
fluence can
arrested by
legislation.

assuredly move to where all four are found together. The remedy
seems to be that our politicians should cease to focus their short-
sighted eyes on the petty, small, and selfish doctrines of so-called
and obsolete free trade, which is not free trade at all, but the
protection of one class and the sacrifice of others — to wit, the
dwellers on the soil. The replanting with trees (which ' do be
growing while we are a-sleeping ') of one quarter of our islands now
lying waste would not be the least important or least reproduc-
tive undertaking for our Government to adopt. Even if the
forests of the whole world were in a state of original productive-
ness this would be economically profitable ; but in view of the
rapid exhaustion of the forests of foreign countries and our own
colonies, is it not an imperative duty of our Government to look
forward and restore the forests at home ? Even fuel will become
dear in a measurable time, owing to the great depth of the coal
seams still unworked, and every stick grown will become more
and more valuable, as in Germany, where it pays even to stub up
the roots of the trees for firewood. In Ireland the case is even
more deplorable. The poHticians who should work for the interests
of the people by protection of the staple products, corn and beef,
play into the hands of the free-traders, so-called, who would un-
people the fields. Naturally the able-bodied inhabitants are
adjourning to America, where Protection flourishes. The land is
becoming waste, and every tree is being cut down. Even the
game, which if protected would bring in wealth (as in Scotland),
is being carefully exterminated, while the politicians seek to gain
power and wealth by preaching disloyalty, hoping to weary out
the democracy of England and its opportunist Government into
further spoliation of the landed interests.

The restoration of forests is the only possible influence on
climate which may delay the inevitable doom of all plant and
tree life on the earth and its relapse into barren desert — a relapse
now steadily progressing, partly through the destructive energy of
the British race all over the world. It is time that some check
were put by legislation to such devastation and waste, which,
with redoubled force, is constantly increasing. The freedom of
man to lay waste the resources of Nature and appropriate its
rich stores to his present use for present gain, entirely regardless
of future generations, and entirely neglecting to replant — that is

APPENDIX 339

the saddest result of the fetish set up by British politicians, and

called ' free trade ' — a fetish which in other matters besides the British free

destruction of forests all over the world is hastening the inevi- trade influence

table catastrophe. That it may long be deferred is the fearful

prayer of all thinking men who have seen the immense destruction

in the last fifty years of tree and forest life ; the extermination of

whole species of forest inhabitants, and the rush of so-called

civilization to appropriate the lands of other people of inferior

race ; the rapid exhaustion and desertion of the virgin soils

recently reclaimed from forest : the wasteful burning of coal and •^ policy of

■' . greed.

timber, and even straw ; and the diggmg of the gold with frantic
haste and subsequent desertion of the gold-fields, left waste and
disfigured.

The greatest question of the twentieth century will be the
prevention of food famines and carbon and timber famines. The Famine in the

, ... ... 1,11,, future where

devastation of forests which once covered the land, and the ex- forests are
travagant waste of Nature's products which has occurred during "^S^'^'*^ •
the nineteenth century, must, I think, as population increases and
American soil becomes exhausted, bring about such famines,
followed by wars of extermination in Europe.

That an old Indian forest officer, who has seen the result of t j- r

' Indian forests

forest destruction in India, should be impressed with such con- successfully
siderations, and endeavour to place on record these impressions,
is no wonder. He must admire the great work done by the
Government of India with a view to develop its teeming resources,
including Forest restoration. Already the organization of this
department, commenced thirty odd years ago, has laid the founda-
tions of vast improvement, financially and economically, as the
latest Indian forest report amply shows.

If these pages prove in any way useful to those who at home
or in India desire to study the subject, also if they awaken in
the minds of lovers of the forest an increasing interest in forest
conservation all over the world, the writer of these recollections
will be amply rewarded.

INDEX

Age of trees, 331
Alaknanda river, 38, 179, 186
Amarkantak, 279
Ammonites, 159

Anjun {Hardwickia binata), 294
Antelope, Indian, 259, 275-277
Tibetan, 130. See also
Gazelle, Gooral, Serow
Api mountain, 87, 95
Ar?ia. See Buffalo
Axis, or spotted deer, 198, 235,
240

Badrinath, 44, 45

Bagesar, 67, 70

Bagra, 297

Balch Dhura, 149, 156

Balsam, intoxicating, 171

Bamboos, 267, 308

Ban chowr. See Yak

Banian-tree, 259, 299, etc.

Bansi, Rajah of, 241

Baobab-tree, 268

Barasingha, or swamp deer, 199,

312
Bareilly, i, 195, 199
Bayley Balfour, Professor, 322
Bear, habits of, 30, 97, 171

Himalayan black, 54,64, 171-

175, 177-179
brown, 96, 97
Terai black, 246, 295
Betwa river, 266, 271
Bhabar, 4, 6, 21, 38, 194-212
unhealthiness of the, 197
Bhot, country of, 87
Bhotia ponies. See Gunt
Bhotias, 86-89, 9^, 135, 152, 162,
166-168

]ihuk grass, 1 1 7
Bians district, 86, 91

pass, 93, 106, 132
Birds, lists of species observed,
148, 209-211, 246, 247, 300-303
Bison, or gaur, 286-288, 295, 311
Black buck, 259, 275-277
' Bokhara ' horses, 47, 243
Borax, trade in, 87, 135, 161
Bori forest, 203, 312
Brahmaputra, sources of, 1 16, 123,

127, 129, 133
'Brain-fever' bird, 29
Brandis, Sir D., xiii, 318, 319
Bridg^e-making, 21, 297

native, 68, 109, 115
Brinjaras, 27c

their dogs, 260, 270
Buddhism, 114, 200, 304
Buffalo, 237, 261

wild, 228, 234, 237-240, 243-
245
Bundelas, 262
Bundelkhand, 258 ^/ seq.
Burning ghats, 70
Burrhel {Ovis na/iura), 95, 96, 99,
153, 156

Camels, 259, 296

Carbon, loss of, through destruc-
tion of forests, 322, 338, 339
Catechu, 255, 271
Cattle-bells attract tigers, 23, 33
Cedars of India, 41, 49, 75
Chandgarh forest, 293-295
Chaudans district, 86
Chipula, mountain, 77-79, 81, 83
Chir {Pi?tus lottgi/olia), 6, 15, 76,
184-186, etc.

INDEX

341

Chital, or spotted deer, 198, 235,

240
Chough, 135, 137
'Coppersmith' bird, 301, etc.
' Cotton soil ' in Bundelkhand, 263
Crocodiles, 251, 252
Crops in Gorakhpur, 229, 231
Cypresses, 6, 42

Dahya system of cultivation, 269,

286
Dak Eo Pass, 117, 119, 131
Dalhousie, Lord, 291
Deer, barking, 16, 206
four-horned, 259
hog, 198, 235
musk, 80, 96
six-tined (Sambur), 35, 201-

203, 312-315
spotted, 198, 235, 240
swamp, or twelve-tined, 199,
312
Deodars, 41, 49, 75
Dhak-tree, 28, 213
Dharma district, 86, 168
Dhauli river from Niti valley, 49,
50, 64, 66
in Dharma valley, 86,

. J 59
Dogs, Brinjara, 260, 270
Tibetan, 89
wild, 150, 313-317
Dooly, travelling by, i, 2, 5
Dotials, 19-21
Drongo, racket-tailed, lesser, 210

greater, 300
Drummond, Hon. R., 74, T], 90,

116, 124, 130, 131, 134
Drummond, Lieutenant- Colonel,

39
Dudhi, Jain temple at, 271
Duksam, 129

Ebony, 254, 259

Elephants, 196, 213, 216, 217, 219,
221, 223, 225, 236, 241, 248-
250
wild, 9, 199, 222, 311
Evergreen-trees really deciduous,
28, 233

Fairies, worship of, 32, 59,87, 91,

140, 176, 200, 270, 295
Fevers, 5, 48, 64, 196, 298

Fig-trees of India, iSo, 232, 255,

305
Flies, plague of, 170
Florikins, 226

Forest Department in India, xiii,
283, 291
in Colonies, 323
equipment, 46-48
fires, 40, 197, 289, 309, 330
products, 254-256, 307, 308
Survey, 38, 40, 43, 51, 184,
227, 257
Forestry honoured abroad, 337
misunderstood at home, xii,
320, 327, 332
Forests, destruction of, in British
Empire, 266, 268, 321-

324, -h^l
in other countries, 323,
327-329
in Garhwal and Kumaon,
38-43, 179, 180, 184-186,
194, 198
in Gorakhpur, 227, 235, 252
in Jhansi district, 266
in Native States, 89, 267
in Nerbudda district, 283, 289,
292
Free Trade, 338, 339

Gandak river, 227, 251
Ganges, sources of, 38, 44
dead committed to, 70
Gangotri, 38, 44
Garbyang, 92, 94, 98
Garden, an Indian, 282
Garhwal province, 44, 184
Gaur, or bison, 286-288, 295, 311
Gazelle, chinkara, 259, 261, 262

j^oa, 131, 148
Germany, birthplace of forestry,

291, 319, etc.
Glaciers, 51, 136, 164
Goats carrying loads, 47, 88, 89

shawl, 113, 150
Gonds, 279, 286, 295, 314, 316
Gooral, or Himalayan chamois, 9,

79, 186, 187
Gorakhpur, 227, 228, 231, 233,

2^,2

Gori river, 76, 77, 168

Glint ponies, 5, 31, 47, 87, 152,

188
Gurkhas, 21, 27

22

342

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Gurla Alandhata mountain, 105,

117, 121, 125, 133
Gwalior, 257
Gyanima, 138

Harda, great heat at, 293
Hares, tameness of, 127, 138
Heights, measurement of, 64, 119
Himalayas, T^

first view of, 4

great scale of, 159

peaks in, 56, 86

seen from Bhabar, 200
Hinduism, 275, 304
Hochwald sysi&m, 319, 331, 336
Hodgson, Mr. H., 74, 120, 123,

124, 128, 134
Hornbill, 7

Hoshangabad, 280, 293, 296
Hundes, 94, 107
Hunias, 93, 94, 106 et seq., 117,

129, 132, 150, 161
Huns, 94, 107
Hutchins, Professor, on forestry,

322-325
Hyena, 205

Icebergs in lake, 120

Iron -workers, native, 19, 20, 267,

271
Irvajung mountain, 86, 91

' Jacko,' pet monkey, 17
Jalaun district, 274

town, 277
Jamun-tree, 213, 294
Jerow. See Sambur
Jhansi, 257, 258, 265
Jhobu, hybrid yak, 95, 122, etc.
Juhar district, 86, 161
Juli, 19, 22

man-eating tigers at, 26
Jung Bahadur, 241, 245
Jungle-fowl, cry of, 208

Kailas, sacred mountain of, in,

126
Kakur, or barking-deer, 16, 206
Kali river, 76, 82, 86, 87, 95, 134
Kalij pheasant, 16, 209
Karnali or Koriali river, 109, 115
Karnprayag, 44, 45
Kiang, wild horse, 118, 137, 157
Koel, cry of, 302

Kosila river, 66, 71

Kumaon, 86

forests of, 6, 38-43
natives of, 21, 22, etc.
villages of, 22, 75

Kuti Pass, 134, 136

Kyungar Dhura, 149, 159

Lalitpur, 257, 271

Lamas at Taklakhar, in, 114

Lammergeier, 193

Landor, Mr. H. Savage, 166

Langur monkeys, 4, 78, 206, 235

Laptel, 157, 159

Lark, 126, 148, 207

crested, 304
Lata Forest, 49, 63
Leeches, 76, 169
Leopard, 89, 186, 189 et seq.

snow. 54, 57, 63, 80
Lhasa, attempts to reach, 92, 163,

165
Limi mountain, 128
Lyall on upheaval of mountains,

164

Machan for tiger-shooting, 27, 33
Mahadeo, 289, 290, 308
Mahseer fishing, 65 et seq.
Mahua-tree, 229, 232, 282, 305
Manasarowar lake, no, 112, 117,

126, 166
Mango-tree, 229, 232, 305
Manure not required in India, 264
Mariam La, 130
Marmots, 118, 135
Martens, 205
Milam glacier, 51, 76, 163, 164

pass, 149

valley, 86

village, 162
Milk, goat's and sheep's, 130, 151
Monal pheasant, 64, 81
Monkeys, age of, 18
Mora flies, "jj, 169
Mosquitoes, 77, i6g, 197
Mountain climbing, 53, 55,99, 187
Musk deer, 80, 96

Naini Tal, 5, 8, 9, 12
Namjung mountain, %"]., 91
Nanda Devi, 44, 49, 50, 56, 57,
163, 168, etc.
Kot, 51, 76

INDEX

343

Nari Danda, 82, 84
Nepal, 98

forest in, 235, 245

hunting party in, 242
Nerbudda river, 279-281, 294,

etc.
Nilghai, 198
Nirpani, 91
Niti, 49, 86
Nullahs, country cut up by, 153-

156, 274
Nyang. See Ovis Aminott

Oaks, evergreen, 6, 180, 186
Orchha, 266, 267
Oriole, golden, 24, 301, etc.
Ovzs Amino)!, 124, 131, 138, 140
etseq., 153, 157, 159
parent of domestic sheep,
144

Pachmari, 290, 297, 305
Palms, 6, 256
Paroquets, 302, etc.
Partridge, black, 207, 248

peura, 30, 209

snow, 148
Pepper, 233

Pigs, wild, 198, 219, 221
Pheasants, 16, 64, 79, 81, 148,

209
Pilgrims to Ganges source, 44
Pindar river, 168, 179, 182

glacier, 179
Pines of India, 41 et seq., 83, etc.

of British Isles, 326, 335
Plover, spar-winged, 211
Poles, huts built on, 237
Polyandry', 112, 167
Praying-machines, iii, 112

Quail, 208

button, 209

Rainfall, 12, 104, 134

Ram Ganga river, 26, 66, 76, 168,

196
Ramsay, Colonel H., 9, 10, 11,48,

195, 214, 216, 224-226
' Rani's fan ' (breeze called), 28,

209
Rarefied air, effects of, 97,99, 103,

106, 119, 121, 132, 138, 139,

140, 152 ,

Re-aft'orestation of British Isles,

.325, 33^
Rifles and ammunition, 30, 147,

154, 218, 238, 240
Rindi valley, 50, 56
Rishi river, 50
Road-making, 10, 11, 16, 17, 19,

21
Roller, the Indian, 300
Rosewood, 259

Sahariyas, 268-270

Saj-tree, 6, 232, etc.

Sal-tree, 6, 21, 194 et seq., 232,

296, etc.
Salt, trade in, 87, 88, 135, 161,

273
hedge, the, 273
Sambur deer, 35, 201-203, 312,

3i3» 315
Sarju river, 67, 168, 186, 196
Satpura hills, 279, 281, 284, 291,
297
forest report on, 292
SchHch, Dr., 322, 324, 325, 331,

336
Schools in Kumaon, 134, 163
Semal-tree, 28, 232, etc.
Serow, or jungle antelope, 203, 204
Sheep carrying loads, 88, 161
Tibetan, 93, 129, 130
wild, 93, 95, 96, 131, 144,

Small-pox and vaccination, 98
Smyth, Lieutenant- Colonel, 74,
92, 106, 109, 116, 123, 130, 134,

135
Snakes, 211

Snow-bhndness, 74, 103, 119, 132
Spear-grass, 169
Spider, giant, 212
Squirrels, 301
flying, 90
Strachey, Sir R., 122, 149, 164
Sunari Forest, 233
Sutlej, sources of, 149, 153

Taklakhar, 92, 95, 105 et seq., 132
Tamarind-tree, 282
Tapoban, 50

Tarshish perhaps Alysore, 307
Tea, 130, 181

Teak-tree, 258, 259, 284, 285, 287
Teal, houses for fattening, 247
22 — 2

344

THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA

Terai, i, 5, 6, 196, 197, 213 et seq.
in Gorakhpur, 227
in Nepal, 245 et seq.
Thar {Hemitragus jeinlaicus), 52,

^Set seq., 62, 79
Thunderstorms, 58, 175
Tibet, 114, 165

contrasted with India, 103,

104, 136, r6i
difficulty of entering, 94, 166
author's journeys in, 102-133,
134-161
Tiger, 23 et seq., 198, 219-224,
etc.
a man-eating, 27, 30
and boar, 219
and cow, 225

and elephant, 216, 217, 225
invisibility of, 25, 35, 221
vitality of, 36, 224
Tiger-cat, 242
Tinkar, 98
pass, 95

amazing view from, 103,
104
Topidunga, precipice at, 160

Tornadoes, 229-232

Travel, old methods compared

with new, 3
Trees, various lists of, 180, 181,

184, 198, 254-256
Trisul mountain, 50, 160

Unta Dhura, 161, 162
Urial, wild sheep, 145

Vegetation, various descriptions
of, 28, 32, 79, 180, 309

Vultures, 224

Water-wheels, 265

Webber, Major-General, 266

Williamson's ' Sports of the East,'

316
Wolves, 271
Wool, 96, 113, 123, 146
'Working-plan' in forestry, 252,

319, 321

Yak, 95, 96, 102, 119, 122, 130,
134, 160
wild, 116, 122 et seq.

THE END

BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD

MAP OF UPPER INDIA SHOWING FOREST REGIONS.

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