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REGIONAL LIBF

ARYFACI

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES OF
AN INDIAN OFFICIAL

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

OF

AN INDIAN OFFICIAL

By mark THORNHILL

AUTHOR OF

"adventures of a magistrate in the INDIAN mutiny"

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

1899

PREFACE

"POURING the latter period of my residence in
-*-^ India I kept a diary. The diary was chiefly
devoted to observations on the birds, insects, and
animals whose acquaintance I made in my garden, or
which I beheld on the bed of the river beyond. But
it also contained memoranda on the weather and the
changes of the seasons, notes of interviews with native
visitors, and of any interesting information I happened
to acquire. When I finally left India I brought the
diary with me, together with a variety of Persian
manuscripts and other Eastern books and papers. For
many years it remained unnoticed, half forgotten ; then
one day the fancy took me to open and peruse it.

I found it interesting, sufficiently so to warrant the
hope that if expanded and arranged in the form of
a narrative it might prove a volume of entertaining
reading. After much delay and many interruptions
I have carried this idea into execution.

The insects and animals described in the earlier parts
of the narrative are mostly those which in India are
very common, very insignificant, and on that account

i.S45G4.l

vi HAUNTS AND FiOBBIES

but little regarded. Nevertheless I found them interest-
ing to observe, and I trust that they may be interesting
to read about ; and although my observations are quite
unscientific, they may perhaps add a little to the store
of popular information, and by exciting an interest
in the humble creatures with which they deal they
may tend to develop kindly feelings towards them.

The animals that I have spoken of towards the end
of my narrative are of a grander kind, such as the
tiger, the bear, the deer, and the rhinoceros, the shooting
of which forms the subject of most sporting works.
Such works are popular from the adventures they record,
but I think my narrative will show how much interest,
even excitement, may be derived from observing these
animals without injuring or destroying them,

I have added to my account of the domesticated
elephants, as they now are, a description of the far
grander position they held in the days of the emperors ;
then in trappings of silk and cloth of gold they added
to the splendour of the court, and formed one of the
most formidable and important accompaniments of the
armies.

In regard to the elephants and some other of the
larger wild animals, I have noted the fact of their
disappearance, within comparatively recent times, from
many extensive regions where they were formerly
abundant, a disappearance for which in many cases
there is apparently no sufficient cause.

PREFACE vii

Although I have devoted much of my narrative to
the animals, I have treated also of other matters.
Indian society in the hills and at the large stations
has been frequently described, and as such descriptions
are popular I have thought that a picture of the quiet
life of a European official in the plains might also
be worthy of record. In order to render my picture
accurate I have described, and at some length, many
ordinary matters which, in works on India, are usually
either left unnoticed or but incidentally alluded to.
I have, for example, not only described the appearance
of my house, but also the arrangement of the rooms ;
I have said much on the weather and the climate and
the changes of the seasons; I have besides given a brief
account of my office, and also, as in a way connected
with it, of the jail and its inmates ; and I have added
to my account some weird stories, all true and within
my own experience.

In various parts of my narrative I have introduced
notices of native habits, institutions, and superstitions,
all of which may, I hope, be interesting, and many of
them new, to most readers ; some few will be so even
to those acquainted with India.

I have concluded my narrative with an account of a
tour I made during one cold season through the valley
of the Doon, but I have introduced into the account
recollections of an earlier period, when the valley
was under my charge, and a description of the

viii HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

little Sikh monastic establishment, with its tranquil
siirrouiKliiigs and bitter internal dissensions ; the
Government tea jilantations, as they then existed ; the
curious marriage customs prevailing in the adjacent
mountains ; and lastly, the discovery of the deserted
palace, round which a forest had grown up, and the
" beauty " that was found reposing within it

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

My new station — Arrival at it — Walk round the garden — Discovery
of an ant's nest — Habits of the ants — Ants in the house — The
little red colony — The day visitors — How the ants discover
food — Experiments to ascertain . ... I

CHAPTER II.

My house — Description of it — Also of my garden — How I pass my
time — Intensity of the heat and sunlight — Aspect of the land-
scape—The ants in the garden — Their diligence — Also their
stupidity — Ant-lions — How they construct their pits —
Animosity of the small black ants towards them . . 15

CHAPTER III.

Illustrations of the extreme heat — A dust storm — The river — Its
appearance from the garden terrace — The alligators on the sand
banks — Alligator stories — The two varieties of alligators —
Appearance of an otter — The burtunga ants — A second dust
storm — A shower from a cloudless sky — A shower of muddy rain 32

CHAPTER IV.

Native visitors — Stories told by — Haunted by a ghost — How my
landlords acquired their fortune — A cook's promotion — Escape
of a Persian noble from the court of Nadir Shah — Birds on the
river — The melon beds — Story of the Emperor Babur — Fighting
among the ants — Their tracks — How rapidly they are formed . 50

CHAPTER V.

Commencement of the rains — The first shower — Its magical effect —
Millions of insects called to life — The " beer-bhootees " — A
curious insect — Ground spiders, frogs, crickets, flying bugs —
Discovery of four toads immured in garden path — Rapid growth
of the vegetation — The bamboo — Used formerly for torture —
Forms the fortified walls of a city . . . . 69

X HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

CHAPTER VI.

PACK

The burlungn ants send out a colony— Garden rats— Field rats—
kUing of the river— Clearness of the atmosphere— Splendour
of the stars at night— Remark of my servant— More showers-
Issue of a swarm of young white ants — Most interesting
spectacle— Reflections upon it . ... 9°

CHAPTER VII.

Alchemy, an exhibition of— A piece of lead apparently transmuted
into a bead of gold — Gold mohurs called from space — Hidden
treasures — The vast store of, found by Nadir Shah — The un-
discovered treasures of the Emperor Alumgire — Animals in the
house — Lizards, various insects, rats, musk-rats, snake found
wedged in a padlock, scorpions . ... lo6

CHAPTER VIII.

The month of August— Excessive dampness — Dragonflies— A visit
from four jackals — ^Jackals at night — Their cry, what they are
supposed to say — A beautiful chrysalis — The month of
Septeml>er — More about my garden — The babool tree — Delicious
lierfume of its flower — Attar of roses — Commencement of the
cold weather — \'ultures, hawks, and kites — Squirrels — An in-
cident in the office — Narcotic drugs, some account of them . 122

CHAPTER IX.

The station, its history — My office — The old records — Paper by
Warren Hastings — The jail — Stories — Murder of a magistrate —
The captured burglar — The roVjber's head — The Bhuttyarah's
well — Snakes, I find a collection of their eggs — Locusts — The
beautiful moonlights — The night mirage — The day mirage —
I leave for another station . . ... 142

CHAPTER X.

Red ants — White ants — The mounds above their nests — One in course
of erection — I move again, and to a station near the Himalaya —
White ants abound — Description of their nests — Unpleasant
appearance of their combs — The queen — Fireflies and other
luminous insects — Bats — Many varieties — Description of some —
Weird appearance when hanging from the branches of a tree . 160

CONTENTS xi

PAGE

CHAPTER XI.

My new garden — A praying-mantis — Insect mimicry — Bees and
wasps — The Persian wheel — The deep wells — The singing as
the water is drawn — Legend regarding — The deep wells a great
cause of mortality — Sunrise over the Himalaya — A double sun-
rise— Flights of aquatic birds — Edible grass seeds — Handmills —
Curious birds' nests — Birds, description of some — The rising
crops — Landmarks . . . . . . 178

CHAPTER XIL

A cold-weather tour — The first march — Evening in a village —
A charitable distribution — Through the forest — The Dak
Bungalow — An old acquaintance — Elephants — Sunset view —
Night in the forest — The Shewalic mountains — The pass
through them — First prospect of the Doon . . .199

CHAPTER XIII.

The Doon — Short description of — The town of Dehra — The tomb
of the Gooroo — The Government tea plantations — Mango
trees — Immense size of some — Tea manufacture — Unsuccessful
endeavours of the Government to induce the native inhabitants
to cultivate the tea plant — The " raos," or watercourses —
Violence of the torrents through them in the rainy season . 217

CHAPTER XIV.

The Sikh monastery attached to the shrine of the Gooroo— Its
internal dissensions — The "Mohunt," the head of monastery,
visits me in state — His next visit unceremonious — He has been
assaulted — He comes to complain — I present him as a consola-
tion with a new headdress — Sketch of the history of the Doon —
The fort of Kalunga — Failure of our attack — Death of Sir
Rollo Gillespie — The fort abandoned — Burial place of our
soldiers who fell in the attack — Weird incident — Anecdote of
Sir Rollo Gillespie . . . ... 238

CHAPTER XV.
The Doon passes under English rule — The potato — Said to have
led to the establishment of the hill stations of Landour and
Mussoorie — Curious marriage customs prevailing in the moun-
tain tract attached to the Doon — Description of the tract and
its picturesquely situated, small capital — Forest sounds —
Memorials of suttee — Was to some extent practised by the
Mahomedans — Some optical illusions in regard to the
mountains . . . . . 251

xii HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

CHAPTER XVI.

TAGE

Willi animals — Tigers, leopards, bears, and wolves — Slories of
ligers — One enters my camp at night — A devotee and a tiger —
Tigers at the native courts — Enormous strength of the tiger —
Sad accidents to an English ofticer — Man-eating tigers — Leopards
— Their extreme activity — Story of a tame leopard — The bears —
They mostly inhabit the mountains —Two bears prowl round my
house and break into the larder — My tame bears — Wolves —
Superstition of wolf-children . . ... 263

CHAPTER XVII.

Elephants — A herd passing through the Shewalics — Solitary
elephants, or elephants in pairs, dangerous — My adventure —
Elephant and police hut — Escaped elephants — Elephant pits —
A baby elephant — Elephants in the days of the Emperors — Used
in battle — Their advance against the army of Timour — Their
valour at the capture of Cheitore — Their magnificent appearance
at court ceremonials — The elephant of Prince Daniel — Elephant
fights — Elephants as executioners — A " must " elephant — Great
age of elephants — Elephant of the Emperor Kuttub-ood-Deen
dies of grief when the Emperor was killed . . . 282

CHAPTER XVIII.
Disappearance of the wild animals — The rhinoceros now not found
to the westward of the Ganges — Nor elephants in the forests of
Central India — Were formerly there abundant — The lions have
also disappeared in the Punjaub and Upper India — Stories of lion-
hunting by the Emperors Akbar and Jehangire — Description of
Indian lion — Animals in the forest — Their old age — Reflections 304

CHAPTER XIX.

Tour continued — March through the Western Doon — Halt by the
river — Washing for gold — Ascent of the Shewalics — Last view
of the Doon — Fakirs — Description of them — The Goshines —
The Jogees — The Nagas — Fakirs at Hurdwar — Austerities —
The fakir at Benares — The wonderful performances of the
seven Jogees before the Emperor Jehangire — Skill in archery
displayed by a young noble — Modern jugglers . . '313

CHAPTER XX.
Tour concluded — View from a peak^Wildness of the mountains —
The pass — Singular rock — March to the Jumna — The deserted
palace — Tradition regarding it — Its discovery — The " Beauty "
within it — The scenery around — The Jumna and the Tonse —
March along the canal — The scarcity — Distribution of the relief
funds — The great famine . . ... 332

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES OF
AN INDIAN OFFICIAL

CHAPTER I.

ANTS

SOME few years after the Mutiny, I was appointed
to a station up the country. The station stood on
the bank of the Ganges. In the early days of our
rule it had been to some extent a seat of government.
It was the headquarters of several of the chief civil
offices, and a strong military force was maintained
at it, but as time passed the importance of the station
had declined. One by one the great offices had been
removed elsewhere, and the number of the troops had
been reduced. Just previous to the Mutiny they con-
sisted only of a portion of a native regiment. The
station, however, was still a tolerably large one ; but
the many unoccupied houses and uncared-for gardens
gave to it a rather deserted and melancholy appearance.
I arrived at the station about the middle of the
month of May, the very hottest period of the year.
Some few days were occupied in selecting a house and
settling myself in it ; and then one afternoon, when
B

2 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the sun had set, I took a stroll round the garden. The
garden extended to the river, and descended to near
the water's edge in a succession of terraces. The
garden had originally been a pretty one, and well
stocked with flowers, but for many years it had been
sadly neglected. In England a neglected garden
becomes a wilderness ; in India, where all cultivation
depends on irrigation, it assumes much the aspect of
a desert. This garden had done so. There were a
few magnificent trees, several more of smaller size,
some flowering shrubs, and here and there a rose-
bush ; but generally the surface displayed only one
monotonous expanse of bare brown earth. In places,
however, there were clumps of pampas grass, forming
quite little jungles, and among them were crops of the
hardiest of weeds. The appearance of the lower
terraces was rather more cheerful, for they were still
partly cultivated, though only with native vegetables
of the commonest kinds.

It was uncertain how long I should remain at the
station. I did not, therefore, think it worth while to
put the garden in order ; I amused myself instead by
studying its living inhabitants — the insects and other
small animals, for all these it contained in great
abundance. I directed my attention at first to the
ants. My acquaintance with tiiem thus commenced : I
was strolling through the garden, as before, soon after
sunset, when I noticed on the rough surface of the
ground a broad, smooth track ; it was much the sort
of mark that the trunk of a tree or a beam of timber
would leave, if dragged along.

ANTS 3

I had with me two attendants. I pointed to the
track, and inquired if any of the trees of the garden
had been lately felled and drawn away. The men
smiled, and informed me that the track was not that
of a tree, but was the foraging path of an ants' nest.

I was at first incredulous. It seemed to me impos-
sible that such light, diminutive insects as ants could
have made so broad and smooth a track as this over
the rough, hard earth ; but I was presently convinced.
We followed the track ; it extended from the point
where I had noticed it for some sixty or seventy yards;
then it abruptly terminated in the centre of what had
once been a flower-bed. At the point where the track
terminated the ground was slightly raised, something in
the form of a wide but very shallow inverted saucer.

In this low mound I noticed that there were four
small holes. These holes, my attendants informed me,
were the entrances to the passages that led down to the
nest. A few ants only were about. The rest, my
attendants said, had retired below for the night ; but
in the morning, about sunrise, they would be out again
and in full activity.

In India during the hot weather we all rise at earliest
dawn. By six o'clock the sun is high in the heavens,
and his rays unpleasantly penetrating. It was about
this time the next morning that I returned from my
ride. I went at once to the ants' nest. It was situated,
I may mention, on the uppermost of the terraces — the
one nearest to the house. The track now presented
a very different appearance to that of the previous
evening, for, broad and long as it was, it was never-

4 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

theless completely covered with ants going out and
returning. The track, I now found, led from the nest
to one of those clumps of pampas grass I have above
alluded to. Here it widened out and ended, and the
ants dispersed themselves among the grass and weeds
to gather their seeds.

Having collected their seeds, the ants returned to
the nest, each ant, as I imagined, carrying a single
seed. It was a scene of peaceful industry most
interesting to behold, so interesting that, notwith-
standing the heat, I sent for a chair and sat down
to observe it. I am sorry to say that I had not looked
long before I became aware that the ants were neither
so peaceful nor so industrious as I had at first supposed.
Although the seeds were abundant, not one ant in six
took the trouble to gather any. Many of the ants,
indeed, never proceeded to the clumps at all. Instead,
they lay in wait in different places along the track, and
robbed of their seeds the industrious of their comrades
who had been there and were returning laden.

If the industrious ant was much the smallest, he
usually accepted the situation. He dropped his seed,
turned, and with wonderful patience went back to the
grass clumps to gather another. If the ants were at all
of equal size, the affair generally ended by both convey-
ing on the seed together. Sometimes, though rarely,
the small ant would hold on to his seed so resolutely
that the larger, robber ant had to drag him along with
it to the nest.

I had supposed at first that, as the ants were foraging
among the grass clumps, it was the seed of the grass

ANTS 5

that they were gathering. To make sure, however, on
this point, I sent for my magnifying-glass, and with it
I examined the seeds. I found, rather to my surprise,
that the seeds were not the seeds of the grass, but
those of the akawa, a small, juicy wild plant that
grew among the grass clumps, and also elsewhere near
them.

I remained for a long time watching the ants ; in
fact, I remained till the rays of the sun got too hot for
endurance. Then I retired to the house. The servants
told me that in another hour or so the ants would retire
also. They would enter their nest, and there remain
till the day declined. They would then reappear,
forage as before, and a little before sunset return again
for the night.

I was curious to ascertain if this statement was
correct. I waited till a full hour had elapsed, and then,
shaded by a thickly wadded umbrella, I went back to
the nest. Not an ant was visible. The track was as
bare and deserted as I had seen it on the previous
evening. And not only had the ants retired, but the
entrances to the nest were also closed ; and I noticed
that over each a little mound of pellets had been
erected. The pellets were minute fragments of brick
or small pieces of hard earth, the like of which were
everywhere strewed about the garden.

The mounds were so neatly constructed that I
imagined at first that they were the work of some
of the children of the servants who lived on the
premises ; but I was assured by my attendants that
they were erected by the ants themselves. It was

6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the custom, they said, of these ants always thus to
close and cover over the entrances to their nests
whenever they retired within them. They added that
if I would come out when the ants retired again at
sunset, I could witness them doing so.

This account of my attendants so interested me that
I looked forward to the afternoon with some little
impatience. In fear lest I might be too late, I left the
house while the sun was yet well above the horizon.
I found the track still covered with ants, but all were
returning. Their numbers were so great that it was
a considerable time before the whole had entered the
nest. A small party, however, some twenty or thirty,
remained without ; and these now, to my extreme
satisfaction, set about the work of closing the entrances.
Their mode of procedure was as follows : —

They first separated themselves into four groups of
about equal numbers. Each group appeared to under-
take the duty of closing one of the four entrances.
The ants next dispersed, and collected pellets from the
fragments of brick and hard earth lying around. With
these pellets they then commenced to cover over the
entrance holes. It was a work requiring some care, for,
small as were the entrance holes, a good many of the
pellets were even still smaller. But all the while I
looked on I did not observe a single pellet fall in.

The ants worked rapidly. Before many minutes had
passed, all the four entrances were closed. In the
covering over one entrance a small aperture was left.
The other three entrances were closed completely, and
over these three the ants now proceeded to erect the

ANTS 7

mounds. When the mounds were completed, all the
ants but one retired into the nest, through the aperture
left, as above mentioned, in the covering over the fourth
entrance. One ant remained, and now, all unaided, he
set about erecting a mound over this last entrance.
I noticed that as he placed the pellets he was very-
careful to preserve the aperture. As the mound rose
around it, the aperture assumed something the appear-
ance of a roughly constructed, most diminutive well.

I watched this ant's proceedings with great interest,
wondering much how when the mound was completed,
and he retired himself into the nest, he would manage
to close the aperture behind him. My curiosity on
this point was not destined to be gratified. Before the
mound was completed, I was called away to the house
by the arrival of a visitor. I have a vague recollection
that on another occasion I did see the mound com-
pleted, and this last ant retire ; but how the aperture
was closed I do not remember, nor, I am sorry to say,
do my notes record.

I had hitherto visited the ants ; before very long the
ants returned the compliment, and visited me. It was
in the late afternoon, the sun was just sinking, the outer
doors had been opened, and I was sitting in the
verandah waiting to take my evening drive. I happened
to look down, and saw that the floor was covered with
a multitude of small moving, dusky spots. On nearer
inspection I perceived that these spots were ants, and
ants of one of the diminutive red varieties. I had seen
none previously. From whence had these come ?

On searching about I discovered that these ants were

8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

issuing from a crack in the cemented floor, and they
were not only issuing from the crack, but they were
returning to it again and descending. With the aid
of my magnifying-glass, I further ascertained that each
ant as he came out of the crack carried in his jaws
a minute pellet of mortar. The ants ran along the
floor, deposited their pellets upon it, and then raced
back to the crack, and disappeared within it. The
reason of their presence was now explained. They
had come not merely to visit, but to reside. They
were engaged in excavating chambers and galleries,
in which to establish a colony. In this work of ex-
cavation they must have been engaged for some hours,
for the floor of the verandah, to the distance of many
feet from the crack, was covered with the little pellets
of mortar which they had brought up from beneath
and deposited.

The sight suggested some speculations. From whence
did these ants come? for I had seen none exactly like
them in the garden. Then why, with so much space of
earth all around, should they have selected this solid
masonry floor in which to excavate their residence?
And, lastly, how did such soft, diminutive little
creatures manage to tunnel through it? To none
of these problems am I able to afford any solution.

These small red ants having arrived, they remained
for the rest of the season ; and I was glad that they did,
for the watching their proceedings was a source of
constant interest. They were followed by other ants ;
but these later arrivals, though much varying in size,
belonged all to the black varieties. They also, for

ANTS 9

some reason or other, almost entirely confined them-
selves to another verandah — the one which faced to
the north ; and, with few exceptions, they were only
day visitors. They came in the morning, and departed
again as the sun declined. Those that remained
permanently were ants of the most diminutive species.
They also, like the small red ants, excavated residences
for themselves in the solid masonry flooring.

The larger ants, the day visitors, were to be numbered
by thousands. Whenever I entered the verandah I found
the entire surface of the floor and walls thickly speckled
with them. Their activity, too, was wonderful. They
appeared to pass their time in ceaseless wanderings,
hardly ever, that I could observe, resting even for an
instant. The object of their wanderings was not
apparent. I suppose it was in search of food, though
what food they could find in the verandah was a puzzle,
for the room that served as a larder was on the other
side of the house.

Except in the larder, ants are one of the few Indian
insects that are not an annoyance. They are so
clean ; they confine themselves so entirely to the walls
and floors, and mostly to those of the verandahs ; but in
the larder, or wherever else there is anything eatable,
then there they are a pest. However carefully food may
be hidden away or protected, the ants are sure before
long to discover and devour it. The only receptacle
that will protect food from the ants is a safe with wire
gauze sides, and supported on long legs, the legs resting
in wide stone saucers kept filled with water ; and this
requires constant attention, for the dust, with which the

10 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

air in the hot season is ahvays thickly laden, soon forms
a film on the water, and over this film, thin as it is, the
ants are able to pass.

But now a question arises: By what means do the ants
discover the food ? Is it by sight or by scent ? Or in
the course of their incessant wanderings do they come
on it by accident ? This question has been much debated,
but never, that I am aware, been quite satisfactorily
determined. Having so many ants about, I resolved to
try some experiments to throw, if I could, some light on
the subject. My experiments were very numerous ; one
or two of them I will relate.

The first experiment was performed in this north
verandah. It was suggested by a long, thick nail that
projected from the wall, driven in by some former
occupant of the house. The nail was about six feet
above the floor, and projected some three inches from
the face of the wall. From the end of this nail I sus-
pended a piece of stiff paper by means of some fine
twine. I passed the twine through the four corners, so
that the paper hung flat like a small platform. Then
on the upper surface of the paper I placed a little heap
of powdered sugar. I did this one day on returning
from my early morning ride.

For three days the sugar remained untouched ; not an
ant came near it. Then I varied the experiment. It
was in the morning: the floor, as usual, was covered with
ants ; I carefully lifted one with a card and placed him
on the paper. He ran at once to the sugar and com-
menced to eat it. Towards sunset, when the heat had
diminished, I went again to the verandah. I found a

ANTS II

score or more of ants on the paper, and all eagerly-
devouring the sugar. In the course of the next day it
was entirely consumed.

Now during the three days that the sugar had remained
untouched the ants had been swarming on the wall ;
many hundreds must have passed by the nail. They
were evidently, therefore, not attracted to the sugar
either by sight or smell. How, then, did they eventually
discover it ? I think it may be assumed that they were
directed to it by the ant that I placed on the paper.
Probably, when he had eaten as much sugar as he
desired, he ascended the twine, passed along the nail to
the wall, and then by some means or other informed the
other ants of the existence of the sugar and where it was
situated.

The experiment, however, was not conclusive. In
another day or two the sugar might have been found
accidentally by some ant walking on to the nail ; also
the sugar may have been scentless ; and, further, the
ants, wandering always with their faces to the wall,
may not have perceived it. In order to determine
these points, I repeated the experiment in a different
form.

I filled two empty jam-pots with earth nearly to
their brims. On the earth in each pot I placed a small
heap of powdered sugar. Near the house, a few feet
in front of the verandah which faced to the east, there
was an ants' nest. The ants were of the same species
as those of the nest on the terrace, only considerably
smaller. In the evening, after these ants had retired to
their nest and closed the entrances, I placed the two

12 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

pots one on each side of their foraging track, and both
at equal distances from it.

The next morning, on returning from my ride, I
went at once to inspect them. I found the pot on the
right of the track completely covered with ants, all
busily engaged in devouring the sugar. They must
have been thus engaged for some time, for the sugar
was nearly all consumed. But the sugar in the pot to
the left was untouched, nor was there a single ant on
the pot itself or anywhere near it. Now, the ants could
not have discovered the sugar on the right-hand pot by
sight, for it was not visible from the ground ; nor can
we suppose that they were attracted to it by scent, for
if so, the scent would have equally attracted them to
the sugar in the other pot. We may fairly assume that,
of the hundreds of ants that passed along the track,
about as many would have gone to the one pot as to
the other.

We may therefore conclude, I think, that the sugar
in the pot to the right was discovered by accident.
Some ant, or ants, must have noticed the pot, and out
of curiosity approached it, then climbed the sides, found
the sugar, eaten as much as they cared to, descended
again, and informed the other ants on the track. A
further experiment supported this conclusion. I placed
as much jam as would fill a teaspoon on a half-sheet
of notepaper. I laid the paper by the side of the
foraging track of the ants on the terrace, and distant
from the track about nine inches. The track at the
time was crowded with ants going out from the nest
and returning.

ANTS 13

For some minutes none of them noticed the paper.
Then a single ant left the track and advanced towards
it. In the meanwhile the heat of the sun's rays had
caused the edges of the paper to curl slightly upwards
— the curl was only very slight, but it was sufficient to
prevent the ant from perceiving the jam — the ant came
up to the paper, paused for a second or so, looked at it,
and departed. A second and a third ant did the same :
each in succession left the track, advanced to the paper,
paused, looked at it, and passed on.

Next there came an ant of very unusual stature ;
his great height, perhaps, enabled him to see over the
curled edge, for, on reaching the paper, he at once
proceeded to climb on it. He then bit off a piece
of the jam and descended ; and in his descent he met
with an accident. He tripped over the curled edge,
stumbled, and fell ; and in his fall he dropped his
piece of jam. Nor was this all. In picking up the
jam some of it got smeared over his body and legs.
He now moved with difficulty ; soon he could hardly
move at all. The ground was covered with dust. All
sticky as he now was, much of the dust adhered to
him. The nest was about a yard distant. It was
many minutes before he succeeded in reaching it ;
and then it was without his piece of jam, for that he
had been compelled to abandon in the course of his
journey.

And now occurred something very interesting. The
large ant had not long entered the nest, when a multi-
tude of ants of ordinary size came trooping out of it.
They went direct and at full speed to the paper ; they

14 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

climbed on it without a moment's delay, and com-
menced at once to devour the jam. They were so
many, and they ate so eagerly, that in a very few
minutes the jam had all disappeared, I think that we
ma)' confidently assume that these ants had been in-
formed of the jam and been directed to it by the large
ant after he had entered the nest. By what means he
had done so it would be endless to conjecture. I think
we may also assume that the first ants, those that went
to the paper but did not ascend it, were attracted to it
by sight merely, for if they had become aware from
scent of the jam that lay on its surface, then assuredly
they would have climbed the paper, as the other ants
did, and devoured it.

I made, as I have said, many other experiments. It
would be tedious to describe them. I found that in
most cases the ants discovered the food I placed merely
by accident. One or more of them came upon it in the
course of their ceaseless wanderings, and then com-
municated their discovery.

In several cases, however, they certainly became
aware of the presence of the food by sight, and in
some few instances they must have been attracted to
the food either by scent or else by some sense which
we do not possess, for though the food was placed
where they could not have seen it, they went to it at
once and in a multitude.

CHAPTER II.
MY HOUSE AND GARDEN

MY house is a bungalow ; that is, it consists of
a single story and has a thatched roof. The
outer walls being low, and the roof large and lofty, the
house when seen from a distance has a good deal the
appearance of a gigantic haystack. The term " bunga-
low," I may mention, is the English corruption of the
Hindostanee word " Bungala," which signifies "of" or
"relating to" Bengal. The term is applied to these
thatched houses because it was from the province of
Bengal that they were originally introduced.

The house is a tolerably large one ; nevertheless it
contains only six rooms. But then these are very
spacious. They all communicate with each other by
doorways, for in Indian houses there are no passages,
and all open on verandahs. There is a verandah on
each side of the house, and at their ends are small
apartments. These form the bathing and dressing
■ rooms, one, however, being devoted to the combined
purpose of pantry and larder. The house, I may add,
is placed on a masonry terrace some three feet high.
The upper surface of this terrace, which is coated with
fine cement, forms the floors. The terrace does not

15

i6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

extend beyond the walls of the house, and so is not
much noticeable from without.

As the house has no passages, so neither has it any
special windows. The outer doors, those that open on
the verandahs, are fitted with panes of glass, and though
always spoken of as doors, they form also the windows.
Immediately before these window-doors are other doors.
They are of wood, painted dark green, and, in place of
panels, contain arrangements of flat bars much re-
sembling Venetian blinds. These arrangements are
termed "jilmils." I may often hereafter have occasion
to mention them.

I will conclude this account of the house with a few
words regarding its grounds, or, as in India they are
termed, its " compound."

The compound is some five acres in extent, and of
this about half the area is occupied by the garden ; the
rest is open space dotted with trees. Along the eastern
end of the compound runs the river ; the opposite end
is bounded by one of the station roads. Here, with
their back to the road, are the stables, and close by
them are the entrance gates. In about the centre of
the compound stands the house. The huts of the
servants and a variety of sheds and outhouses stretch
along one of the sides ; and beyond them, but well
apart, is the kitchen, usually here in India described
as the "cook-room." The boundaries on either side
are the compounds of my neighbours.

And now, having described my house, I will endea-
vour to depict the life I lead within it at this season
of the year. I rise at earliest dawn. It is hardly

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 17

well light when I commence my ride, but the day
comes quickly on. The prospect it discloses is but
dreary. The sky is a grey-white ; a dull brown band
stretches all along the eastern horizon : it is the dust
with which the air is laden. Presently the brown becomes
tinged with red. The red grows brighter, then it turns
to yellow, and I know that the sun has risen ; but it
is not till the sun has mounted well above the band
of dust that he becomes plainly visible, and then he
appears not as a glowing ball, but as a mere pale white
disc.

It is not yet six o'clock when I return home, but the
sun's rays are already powerful. Still, shaded by an
umbrella, I stroll for half an hour about the garden. I
look at the river ; I pay a visit to my friends the ants
and note their proceedings ; perhaps I make acquaint-
ance with some new insects. The heat has now become
oppressive ; I retire to the house. The outer doors are
closed, and also the green "jilmil" doors beyond them,
and I commence the long indoor day. To describe it
in detail would be tedious. I read or I answer letters ;
I receive native visitors, for these early hours are when,
during the hot season, they mostly call ; I bathe ; I
dress ; I depart for my office ; about five I return and
dine.

Dinner finished, I sit and read, the punkah swinging
monotonously above me. An hour passes ; the light
has grown softer ; it assumes a mellow hue, and I know
that the long day is at length drawing to a close. The
doors are now thrown open. I go outside. Though the
sun is setting, the heat is still extreme, but after the
-T) C

i8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

long confinement in the house the open air, hot though
it is, feels pleasant. I now take my evening drive ; it
is dusk before I return. The time that follows is the
pleasantest in the day, I have my tea — a meal in this
hot weather very enjoyable. Then I read, or, if there
is a moon, I sit outside. The Indian moonlight is
always beautiful ; even though obscured by the haze
of dust, it still preserves its soft, dreamy radiance. I
often sit till near midnight tranquilly enjoying it.

In this manner, but little varied, the hot weather
days pass by, very monotonous, often wearisome, yet
leaving a memory of calm tranquillity not unpleasing.

It remains to say a few words on the weather. The
heat is extreme. It is something that only those who
have experienced it can fully realize. Nevertheless,
owing to its perfect dryness, it is not unhealthy, nor,
so long as the wind blows from the west, is it within
the house at all oppressive. A bamboo frame is very
lightly thatched with the fibrous roots of a certain
grass. The frame, wliich when thus thatched is
termed the tattie, is then placed in one of the outer
doorways, and kept continuall}^ wetted. The burning
wind evaporates the moisture, and in doing so its own
temperature is lowered. It passes into the house re-
freshingly cool. It also diffuses a faint but agreeable
aroma. For the grass roots have the peculiarity of
possessing a natural scent. This grass is of a very
coarse description ; it is termed by the natives " khus,"
a name by Europeans altered into " kuskus." The roots
are, or were, imported into this country, and used by
perfumers. I saw some once years ago in a shop in

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 19

Bond Street. It was there known under the name of
" vitivert."

The heat and the extreme dryness produce some
curious effects. Sealing-wax if left about becomes soft,
and bends and twists into all sorts of odd shapes ; a
sheet of paper placed on a table rolls up ; and one's
hair becomes electric like that of a cat : when brushed
it crackles and emits sparks. More singular still, the
country assumes something of the aspect which we
associate with the winter of the far North. There is
the same dim lurid sky, and the clouds of dust as they
sweep by recall recollections of the driving snow. The
appearance of the natives, the few who at this season
venture abroad, increases the resemblance. To protect
themselves from the terrible heat, they envelop their
heads in enormous turbans, and wrap round their
persons great cloaks wadded thick with cotton.

But it is not only in appearance that this season
resembles winter : it produces also very similar effects
on certain forms of animal life. The frogs, the toads,
even some of the fishes, as the heat increases burrow
into the mud while it is still moist, and there lie torpid
till the rains recall them to life.

The landscape, as I have said, has a dim wintry
aspect. Nevertheless the light is intense. Of its
intensity I shall hereafter give examples. At present
one will suffice. During the day all the outer doors
of the house are closely shut, both the window-doors
and also the green wooden ones beyond them. The
sunshine is further excluded by reed screens hung
along the outer side of the verandah. And yet, all

20 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

this notwithstanding, the light that comes through the
raised bars of a single jilmil panel suffices amply to
illuminate the largest of the rooms.

I have spoken above of the intensity of the sunlight
at this season of the year. Of its intensity I will give
two further illustrations.

The first I witnessed at another station, and some
years ago. The house I occupied, like this, had small
rooms, mere closets, at the ends of the verandahs. I
happened one day, during the hot weather, to enter one
of them. I noticed with surprise that the white wall
opposite the outer door appeared bright blue, and also
that feathery streaks of green seemed moving over the
blue surface. Next, to my greater surprise, the figure
of a man, only upside down, passed by, as if reflected
in a looking-glass.

The phenomenon was now explained. There was a
hole in the upper part of the door, and the intense
sunlight passing through this hole pictured on the wall,
like as in a camera obscura, the objects in the garden.
The blue colour was the reflection of the sky, the
green feathery streaks were the waving branches of the
trees, and the figure of the man was one of the servants
who happened to be passing by. But, the hole not
being fitted with a lens, all the objects appeared in-
verted. Having discovered the fact of these reflections
on the wall, I used afterwards often to enter the room
and amuse myself by observing them.

Subsequently I was residing elsewhere, and in a
much larger house. A friend had been staying with
us. On his departure I accompanied him to the outer

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 21

door. His buggy was drawn up before it, the syce
standing at the horse's head. I remained outside in
the porch for a few minutes till my friend had mounted
his buggy and driven off. Then I re-entered the house.

In contrast to the glare without, the house within
appeared to me almost dark. I could see only just
sufficiently to make my way to the room where I had
been previously sitting. The jilmils of this room were
all closed. It appeared to me so absolutely dark that
I stood for a short time at the door, lest I might fall
over some obstacle. As I thus stood, I appeared to
see before me, as clearly as if I was actually beholding
them, only all black, the outlines of the horse, the
buggy, and the syce, just as I had looked at them from
the porch. Now at least three or four minutes had
passed since I had re-entered the house. How intense
must have been the sunlight that the picture it had
impressed on the retina of my eyes should have con-
tinued for all that time !

The intensity of the sunlight may be judged of also
by its effect on the roses. At early morning the leaves
of the flowers are a deep red ; by noon they have
faded to a pink ; by evening they are almost white.
Whether they renew their colouring during the night
I do not remember. I rather think by the next day
they have entirely faded. I should mention that the
roses I speak of are the common native roses, the ones
from which the rosewater and otto of roses are made.

Neither the heat nor the glare, however, has the
least effect in diminishing the activity of the ants.
Those that frequent the verandahs run all day about

22 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the walls and the floors, apparently quite indifferent to
the burning sunshine, while my friends in the nests
pursue their morning and afternoon duties with just the
same regularity and energy as before.

Of their energy I have recently had an example. A
day or two ago, on visiting the lower nest, I found that
the ants had laid out a new foraging path, or rather,
to speak quite correctly, they had extended the one
already existing. This path used to terminate at the
edge of the pampas grass. I found that it now went
partly through this grass, then made a sharp bend
round to the right, and continued on to a small patch
of akawa plants that stood about six or sev^en yards
away. I presumed from this that the seeds of the
akawas which grew among the pampas grass had
become exhausted, and that the ants had pushed on
to these other plants to obtain a further supply. On
examination I found my supposition was correct. The
akawa plants among the pampas grass had been so
thoroughly exhausted that among the whole number
I could not find one plant that now possessed a single
seed.

The new plants seemed, however, to be yielding an
abundant supply of seeds, and the ants were most
actively engaged in gathering them and carrying them
home to their nest. As I watched the little creatures
I was struck, as I often was subsequently, with the ex-
treme rapidity with which their foraging tracks become
marked. This track could not have been frequented
for more than three, or at the most four, hours, for
there had been no trace of it when I had visited

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 23

the nest the previous morning. It traversed also very
rough ground, and it was several inches wide, and yet
for its entire length and breadth it was already quite
distinctly marked. The dust was everywhere brushed
away, and the rough surface of the ground had been
trodden into some approach to smoothness.

The track showed the diligence of the ants, but it
displayed also their stupidity. The new patch of
akawa plants was very much nearer the nest than the
old one among the pampas grass, but, instead of
making a direct track to the new patch, the ants con-
tinued to go all the way round by the old one, thus
adding at least a third to the length of every journey.
I noticed afterwards on various occasions many similar
instances of apparent stupidity on the part of the
ants, occasions where they underwent a vast amount
of labour, and even exposed themselves to some
danger which a very little sense would have enabled
them to avoid. Some of these instances in due course
I shall relate.

After watching the ants for some time on the track
I went back to the nest and amused myself, as I often
did, in testing the facility of the ants in discovering
different kinds of food. I put down, some little way
from the nest, a handful of a yellow lentil termed
" dal," and in a different direction I placed also a small
heap of flour. The " dal " some of the ants found
accidentally, but took no notice of; the flour they
made for at once, and in a multitude. By what sense
they became aware of its presence was a puzzle, for
it was too far off for them to see, and to our perceptions

24 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

it had no odour. However, they found it, and at once,
and forthwith began to carry it into the nest. It was
a work of great labour, for the flour was too dry
to adhere well together, and so nearly half what they
collected fell off on the way.

The proceedings of one ant interested me greatly.
He was of unusually large size, and with energy pro-
portionate. On first emerging from the nest he went
full pace to the heap, made one rush to the summit,
and at once began to collect together with feet and
jaws as much flour as he could reach. This he pressed
into a ball against his chest, and with it he tore back
to the nest, darted into the entrance, and presently
reappeared. I recognized him by his great stature
and the white patches of flour on his body and limbs.
He went off again at once to the heap, collected
another ball of flour, and returned. And this per-
formance he continued to repeat without a moment's
pause or intermission all the while that I remained
watching him. So much of his collections of flour
fell off on the way that his various returns to the
nest were marked by little threads of white.

By the evening all the flour had been carried into
the nest. The " dal " remained where I had placed
it till the afternoon of the third day. The ants paid
it no attention, and it appeared to have no attraction
for any other insect, nor even for the birds. On the
third afternoon the ants suddenly changed their minds
and conveyed the whole into their nest. Owing to
the size of the grain, and its distance from the nest,
nearly a yard, the conveying it must have been a

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 25

work of considerable labour, and, as it subsequently
appeared, of labour entirely thrown away.

It was shortly after this last proceeding of the
ants that I made the acquaintance of those deadly
enemies to the smaller members of their species, the
ant-lions.

Close by the house — indeed, only just on the other
side of the carriage drive — there is an extremely bare
and dusty patch of ground, perhaps the very barest and
dustiest in the whole garden. One morning, on return-
ing from my drive, I happened to pass by this patch.
As I did so I noticed that the surface was thickly dotted
over with little circular, funnel-shaped pits. These little
pits were so many and so close together that there was
hardly a square foot of the ground that did not contain
two or three. I recognized them as the pits of the ant-
lion.

While I was standing looking, a dozen or so very
small ants appeared on the patch. They were wandering
seemingly aimlessly about, as is the habit of these small
ants. One of the ants in the course of his wanderings
happened to pass close by one of the many pits. It ap-
parently excited his curiosity. He stopped, looked, and
then advanced cautiously to the extreme edge of the
pit, and bent his head as if gazing down it. As he did
so the loose sandy soil gave way, and the ant commenced
to slide down the side of the little abyss. In the course
of his descent he managed, however, to turn, and then
made frantic efforts to reascend. His struggles loosened
more of the sand ; a whole quantity began to roll down.

Immediately on this in the narrow bottom of the pit

26 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

a pair of great horns appeared, and commenced to throw
up the sand in a perfect shower. The sand as it fell
descended on the poor ant, and as fast as he climbed up
it threw him back again. I was on the point of going to
his assistance, when by an extreme effort he managed to
reach the edge, to clamber over it, and escape. The
sudden appearance of the great horns from the bottom
of the pit had in it something weird and mysterious. I
was curious to behold the creature to which they
belonged, for somehow I had never as yet, either at
home or in India, seen an ant-lion. The servants in-
formed me that the easiest way of procuring an ant-lion
would be to angle for one with a horse-hair ; for if
dug out it required much trouble and time to discover
it among the sand. This angling for ant-lions, I was
also told, was a common amusement with the native
children. The process is this : A horse-hair is held in
the hand by one end ; with the other end of the hair the
sand at the bottom of the pit is gently stirred. The
movement arouses the ant-lion; he supposes that an ant
has fallen in, seizes the hair with his jaws, and clinging
to it, is drawn up.

The process in description appeared simple enough,
but we found that in practice it required some little
dexterity to be successful. A horse-hair was got from
the stables ; the servants all ined, I also tried, but it was
a very long time before an ant-lion was captured. His
appearance was a disappointment. Seen out of his pit,
he was a most ordinary-looking insect, with no sort of
mystery whatever about him, nor indeed anything at
all remarkable except his large, flat head and great jaws.

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 27

Having gratified my curiosity as to the appearance
of the ant-Hons, I was next desirous to observe by what
process they constructed their pits, especially how
they contrived to make the sides so perfectly circular,
even, and funnel-shaped, I commenced my observa-
tions a day or two after. An ant-lion was speedily
procured, for the servants had now acquired the knack
of managing the horse -hair. I had the ant-lion
carefully placed on the flat surface of a large lump of
earth, and, to guard against the danger of his running
away, the lump of earth was deposited at the bottom of
a very wide, shallow earthen pan.

These arrangements completed, we stood by to
watch the little captive's proceedings. We waited,
but nothing occurred. The ant-lion lay perfectly still
and motionless on the spot where we had placed him ;
then it occurred to me that perhaps the position
did not suit him, so I had him conveyed away to a
piece of ground very much resembling that from which
we had originally taken him. The change produced
the desired result. The ant-lion was no sooner placed
on the ground than he began to wander about it ;
and I noticed that he moved both backwards and
forwards with equal facility. He made frequent pauses,
apparently testing the quality of the soil with the
sharp-pointed end of his body. At length, I suppose,
he found a spot sufficiently soft to suit him, for he
stopped, dug the pointed end of his body into the
ground, and commenced to move round in a circle
as on a pivot. As he moved he shovelled up the
dusty soil with his great head and jaws, throwing it

28 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

in quite a shower beyond the circle. He worked so
energetically, that in less than a minute he had not
only outlined his pit, but had lowered the entire area
quite perceptibly below the surface of the ground
around.

I was watching his proceedings with the greatest
interest, when they were suddenly put a stop to by
a most unfortunate occurrence. A troop of small
ants from some neighbouring nest made their appear-
ance. At the sight of the ant-lion they seemed
seized with fury ; they rushed towards him, threw
themselves on him, and buried their jaws in his
body. Their bite seemed poisonous ; the ant - lion
at once became motionless, either dead or paralyzed.

I subsequently several times repeated the experiment,
but the result was never altogether satisfactory. Most
frequently the ant-lions, when placed on the ground,
simply burrowed beneath the surface, and there re-
mained. On some few occasions the experiments were
put a stop to before they had well commenced. A
troop of small ants suddenly appeared on the scene,
and before we succeeded in driving them off the ant-
lion was killed or entirely disabled. So far as I
remember, it was only on two, or at the most three,
occasions that the ant-lions when drawn out of their old
pit proceeded to construct another. Their method then
was precisely the same as that I have above described.

They moved about probing the ground for a soft
spot. That found, they dug in the pointed end of their
bodies, moved round on them in a circle, throwing up
the sandy soil with their heads and jaws. They

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 29

continued this till they had lowered the surface to the
depth of a little more than the eighth of an inch. This
much accomplished, they discontinued their labours.
They buried themselves in the centre of the circle, and
however long I might wait, they did not again appear.

My experiments had shown me how the ant-lions
commenced their pits and the means by which they
rendered the surface outline so exactly circular ; but
I remained still in ignorance as to how the pits were
finished, and especially how the sides, down to the very
bottom, were made so smooth, so straight, and so
perfectly funnel-shaped.

On other points also regarding the ant-lions my
curiosity to the last continued ungratified, and
especially on this, namely, how, living solely on ants
as they did, they managed to exist on the very small
number of ants they appeared to capture.

I used to pass by the piece of ground where the ant-
lion pits were nearly every morning, and I used generally
to stop some little while to observe them. I never saw
any very large number of ants on the ground, and of
these I do not think one in twenty ever fell into the
pits. Either more fell in at other times of the day, or
else the ant-lions were able to subsist on an extra-
ordinarily small amount of food.

Another thing also struck me as curious. The ant-
lions subsist upon ants, and yet when out of their pits
they never made any attempt to capture them. The
condition of things was, indeed, then reversed : the
ants were the assailants, the ant-lion the victim.

The ant-lion is not at all a large insect. None that I

30 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

saw very much exceeded in dimension an ordinary house
fly. Still, small as the ant-lions were, to the diminutive
ants they must have seemed giants. Nevertheless the
ants appeared to regard the ant-lions with no sort of
apprehension. On seeing one they immediately attacked
it, and without the least delay or hesitation. To be sure,
they generally attacked in overwhelming numbers, but
it was not their numbers that gave them confidence.
The ants attacked with equal boldness when they were
few, and, so far as I saw, always successfully.

On the other hand, the ant-lions showed just as little
fear of the ants. They did not flee when the ants
approached, nor did they seek refuge by burying them-
selves in the sandy earth ; they remained just as they
were till the ants came close, and then they gave them
the warmest reception. Their weapons were their great
jaws, and at each nip of these an ant was left headless.
If the attack of the ants had only been confined to
the front, with our assistance the ant-lion would have
escaped ; but some few of the ants always at the same
time approached from behind, and it was their attack
that proved fatal. They were so small, and they came
on so quickly, that neither I nor the servants perceived
them till they were already on the ant-lion's body ; and
then it was too late. The ant-lion's jaws could not
reach them, nor could we pull them off". To prevent
any misapprehension, I think it as well to state that
these combats between the ants and the ant-lions were
always accidental, and they occurred, notwithstanding
all the efforts of myself and the servants to prevent
them.

MY HOUSE AND GARDEN 31

I used at first to suppose that the attacks of the ants
were the result of instinctive animosity. I thought that
in the ant-lion the ants recognized their natural enemy,
their implacable foe ; and certainly the extreme ferocity
of their attack did suggest such an explanation. I after-
wards came to the conclusion that the ants attacked the
ant-lion merely as they did caterpillars and other small
insects — for the sake of prey ; for these small ants,
though they devour anything, are especially carnivorous.
Their attacks, too, on the ant-lions were not more
furious, I found, than their attacks on grubs and
caterpillars. Besides, as the ant-lion devours the ants
only when concealed in his pit, the ants could hardly
have identified him with the insects they saw lying on
the ground. I may add that it was only the very small
varieties of ants that ever attacked the ant-lions ; the
larger ants, if they happened to approach, passed by
with entire indifference. But these large ants are very
little, if at all, carnivorous.

I have spoken of the rapidity with which the ant-lion
outlines and excavates the upper portion of his pit.
More remarkable still is the rapidity with which, when
on suitable soil, he buries himself beneath it. I have
watched an ant-lion as he lay on the ground. My
attention has been distracted for a few seconds. When
I looked again the ant-lion was no longer on the
surface. In this short interval he had concealed himself
beneath it.

CHAPTER III.
THE RIVER

I HAVE spoken of how the present extreme heat
gives to the landscape and atmosphere something
of the aspect of winter — the same lurid sky, the same
appearance of driving snow. To-day there was still
the wintry aspect, but it was of winter of a more
agreeable phase. The wind had fallen, much of the
dust had subsided, the sky was faintly blue, and the sun
shone cheerfully, no longer wan and pale. The air was
also tolerably clear, but more intensely hot and dry
than ever. The air was so hot, so absolutely dry, that
when I left the house to proceed to the office it seemed
almost as if I had entered a bath of heated sand.
Nevertheless there was something in the appearance
of both landscape and atmosphere that recalled recol-
lections of a hard frost and a bright winter day. The
air had the same glistening look, the same crisp,
bracing feel, and it also to some extent conveyed the
same exhilarating sensation — a sensation, however,
which did not very long continue.

In the course of the afternoon and evening I had
experience of other effects of the combined heat and
dryness. Some few months previously, in the course of

32

THE RIVER 33

the last cold season, I had received from England a box
of stationery. The box, among other things, contained
a few packets of sealing-wax ; the packets were most
neatly done up, all the sticks of the sealing-wax being
separated from each other, except at the ends, by slips
of thin paper.

In the afternoon, when I had returned from the office,
for some reason or other I wanted some sealing-wax.
I went to the box and took out one of the packets.
I found it distorted out of all shape ; the sticks of
sealing-wax had not exactly melted, but they had
softened sufficiently to twine and twist, and to unite
at the ends where they were not separated by the
paper. At the same time, and what struck me as most
curious, was that, though the sealing-wax had thus
twisted and joined, it still to the touch seemed as hard
and firm as ever ; and when I attempted to separate
one of the sticks it broke off with a perfectly clean and
sharp fracture, thus in a way illustrating the modern
theory of the movement of glaciers.

While engaged with the sealing-wax I had left lying
on the writing-table a sheet of notepaper. I found it
now coiled up by the heat into a complete cylinder.

My evening experience was, however, perhaps the
most curious. I was brushing my hair before the
looking-glass by the light of a candle. As I brushed
my hair crackled loudly, and it gave out sparks that
even in the candle-light were faintly visible. In order
to ascertain their full brilliancy, I had the candle
removed ; and then as I brushed my hair in the dark
the sparks that issued were so many and so bright, that
D

34 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I could distinguish, not only the outline of the looking-
glass, but also, though certainly faintly, the reflection
of my head and face on the surface of the glass.

The intense heat continued for some days, and then,
as is usually the case, it was succeeded by a dust storm.
It happened to be a native holiday, and the office was
closed. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon. I
was sitting reading near the tattie in the drawing-room ;
the punkah was swinging above me. According to
custom, I had that morning risen early. The heat,
the cool breeze from the tattie, the monotonous swing
of the punkah, and my early rising, all combined to
make me drowsy. Without knowing it, I think I must
have fallen into slumber. I was suddenly aroused
by the sound of a great commotion in the verandah
outside. The servants were rushing about slamming
to the doors and shouting to each other. I called out,
but in the confusion I could get no answer ; and then
I noticed that the room was becoming dark. I rose
and went out to ascertain what had happened.

As soon as I passed into the verandah the cause of
the disturbance and of the darkness was revealed. A
great dust storm was approaching. The servants were
hurrying about closing all the doors and jilmils and
letting down the reed blinds before the storm should be
on us.

The appearance of the storm as it approached was
very grand. It was coming on from the west, a great
cloud of dust, black and solid-looking almost as a wall.
This great wall of dust stretched along the entire
horizon, and reached upwards to the very firmament.

THE RIVER 35

All around us there was perfect stillness : not a leaf
moved ; there was not a breath of air. But the cloud of
dust was rapidly advancing, and as it advanced it
shut out all behind it. In a minute or two it had
reached the houses on the other side of the road ; it
seemed to swallow them up. As I looked it crossed
the road, and hid the compound wall ; then came a rush
of wind ; a few drops of rain fell. I had only just time
to get back into the house before the cloud of dust
enveloped us. It hid the sun : it dimmed the light ;
inside the house there was utter darkness.

The darkness was so intense, that till the candles
were lighted I had to grope my way, and even the
candles when lighted only faintly illumined the room.
They seemed to shine as through a dense haze, for,
though every door was closely shut, the dust had found
its way in, and filled the air.

This intense darkness continued for at least an hour,
then there came a faint twilight, and gradually day
reappeared. It was near sunset, however, before the
storm had entirely passed away, and it was not till
well into the night that the dust in the atmosphere had
altogether subsided.

The time while the storm lasted was a time of much
discomfort. Dinner had to be postponed, and even
then was cooked and served with great difficulty. A
thick layer of dust spread over the floors and carpets,
and covered the beds, the chairs, and every other article
of furniture, besides filling my hair and every fold in
my clothes.

These discomforts, however, afterwards had their

36 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

compensations. The storm cleared the air, and left
behind it a most agreeable coolness. This coolness was
increased by a second storm, which came on a day or
two after. It was quite an insignificant storm compared
to the storm I have described ; but then it was accom-
panied by a fall of rain, and though the amount of
rain which fell was but slight, yet it so lowered the
temperature that I was able to sit all the evening
without using the punkah : also the next morning I was
able to stay out much longer in the garden after
returning from my ride. I took advantage of the
circumstance to make a rather protracted visit to the
ants in the lower nest.

I found them engaged in what I may describe as
a complete house-cleaning. They were bringing out of
the nest all the rubbish that apparently had for a very
long time been accumulating within it. The articles
brought out were of the most varied description. I
noticed pellets of earth, husks of seeds, stalks of grass,
small pieces of stick, and also what looked very like
the fragments of bodies of insects, besides much else
that I have forgotten.

But what most excited my surprise was that among
the rubbish thus brought out was all that "dal," or
yellow lentil, that only the other day the ants had
carried into the nest with so much labour and trouble.
Perhaps they had found it too hard to eat, or perhaps
they had found the taste disagreeable. But then why
had they not satisfied themselves on both these points
before conveying it in ?

The pleasant effect of the storm was apparent in the

THE RIVER 37

afternoon. It was so comparatively cool, and the air so
free from dust, that before taking my evening drive I
sat for a long time — an hour or more — on a low masonry
terrace on the edge of the bank that overlooks the
river. The end of the garden, as I have said, descends
to the river in a succession of terraces, but not for its
entire breadth. Along one side a narrow strip of the
garden runs level to the edge of the river bank, which is
there precipitous. I may add that the bank of the river
on this its western side is generally precipitous, but it
is broken at intervals by sloping gaps, worn away by the
rains of centuries. It is one of these gaps that at the end
of my garden has been converted into the terraces.

The bank is here about forty feet high, perhaps a
little more ; but, small as the elevation is, it is sufficient
in this level country to afford a tolerably extensive view.
As I sit I see across the river, which is from bank to
bank fully three miles wide. I see down the river for a
still greater distance, and I also obtain some slight
prospect of the fields and groves of the country on the
other side.

The view is pleasant from its being so open, but I
cannot describe it as exactly pretty. At this season of
the year the volume of the river is much reduced, and
what water there is flows almost entirely along the
opposite bank. Foreshortened by the distance, it
appears from here only as a thin blue line ; the rest of
the bed is one wilderness of bare earth and sand.
Through this dreary expanse wind several narrow
streams. Some are really streams, and do actually flow,
though with a movement hardly perceptible ; the rest

3^ HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

are mere long-stagnant pools — water left in the deeper
hollows of the bed when, after the last rainy season, the
river subsided.

The largest of the real streams runs immediately
below me ; it flows along the base of the bank on which
the terrace is situated. This stream is sufficiently broad
and deep, indeed, to merit the appellation of a river, and
its current, though slow, is still quite easily apparent.

On the other side of this stream there are a number
of melon gardens ; they extend along the margin of the
stream for a quarter of a mile or more, and form quite
a little oasis, and one most pleasant to contemplate.
Hardly anything can be prettier than the contrast of
the bright yellow of the melons and the deep, rich, cool
green of their great broad leaves.

The chief interest of the river-bed lies, however, in its
animals. Although it is but a mere strip of sand and
stream, yet, as regards the living creatures that inhabit
it, it appears like another region, so many are the birds,
reptiles, and other forms of life upon it which are never
seen in the vast tracts of country that lie on either side.

This afternoon, as I sit on the terrace, the creatures
most in evidence are a party of some five or six great
alligators. They lie basking on a sand bank not far
distant ; they lie with their bodies flat on the sand, much
resembling so many logs of timber, as large, as rough,
and quite as motionless. Three of them have their
mouths wide open ; the lower jaws stand out horizontally;
the upper jaws point upwards, almost perpendicularly,
to the sky. Long, narrow, sharp at the ends, they suggest
the idea of three enormous pairs of open scissors.

THE RIVER 39

These huge creatures will lie on the sand banks for
hours thus motionless. When sailing on the river I have
often watched them. Suddenly one is moved by some
impulse. Perhaps the approach of the boat has alarmed
it. It starts into life ; it makes a rush to the river,
throws itself over the edge of the bank, and falls into
the stream with a thud and a splash that resound over
the water far and wide.

Considering what awkward, short -legged creatures
alligators are, it is surprising to observe the speed with
which they can run, but of course only for a very limited
distance. It is said that they can overtake a man, and
there are many stories of their having done so. Some
native has ventured too near an alligator and provoked
or disturbed him ; a chase has ensued, and the man
been overtaken and devoured. On the other hand,
I have often been assured that a man, if pursued by
an alligator, can always escape by suddenly turning,
for the alligator can only turn after making a consider-
able circuit ; and by the time the circuit is completed
the man is too far off to be overtaken. It is necessary,
however, that the man when turning should keep his
head, for otherwise, instead of passing the alligator, he
may probably run into his jaws.

But I have not much faith in these stories. It is
possible that men may sometimes have been seized and
devoured by alligators on the land, but I never myself
knew of an instance. The alligators, however, do
certainly occasionally seize and carry off human beings
in the water, especially women and children at the
bathing-places. Many alligators when shot and opened

40 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

have been found with ornaments of children and females
inside them.

I remember when I was magistrate of Muttra being
told of a rather remarkable instance that had occurred
there some few years previously. An alligator had
established himself in the river not far from the chief
bathing-places. He was an enormous brute of the
short-nosed variety. He was believed to have carried
off several of the bathers, chiefly women. He estab-
lished quite a terror. At length he was captured and
dragged ashore, killed, and then cut open. I was told
that an immense number of women's ornaments and
fragments of dresses were found within him.

But sometimes when bathers disappear the alligators
are unjustly accused, as the following story will show.
The incidents occurred also at Muttra, but before my
time. They were thus related to me, and I entertain
no doubt of their general correctness : —

Several women had disappeared suddenly when bath-
ing. Each gave a shriek and vanished under the surface.
It was supposed at first that they had been seized and
dragged below by the alligators, but presently sus-
picions were excited. It came to be noticed that all
the women who disappeared were well-to-do, and at the
time of their disappearance they were wearing valuable
ornaments. Before long the suspicions became certain-
ties. The body of one of the women was found floating
in the river. It bore no mark of injury from any
alligator, but her ornaments were gone, and there were
rents and gashes in the flesh where they had been torn
or cut off.

THE RIVER 41

Inquiries were then instituted, and it was discovered
that the women had been the victims of a gang of
a species of Thugs. Some of the gang were expert
swimmers. They remained near the bathing-places,
ostensibly amusing themselves in the water. When
a woman with rich ornaments came down to bathe,
their confederates signalled them ; one of them swam
to the bathing-place, swimming the latter part of the
distance under water. The woman was seized by the
feet, dragged to where the stream was deep, her orna-
ments there cut and dragged off, and the body allowed
to float down with the current.

With regard to the human beings really devoured by
alligators, the number is surprisingly small, that is con-
sidering how the alligators abound in the rivers and the
thousands and thousands of natives — men, women, and
children — that each day resort to the rivers and are at
all hours bathing in their waters.

Of all the rivers in India the Ganges has the reputa-
tion of being the one in which the alligators the most
swarm. It is also the river to which the Hindoos most
resort for religious bathing. The Mahomedans make
these two circumstances a subject of joke against the
Hindoos. They say that the sins washed off by the
bathing take bodily form in the persons of these huge
reptiles, their vast number indicating the wickedness of
the bathers.

The alligators live in the rivers, but it is said that
they are also occasionally found in some of the great
reservoirs, or, as they are termed by the English, the
tanks. It is not easy to understand how they find their

42 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

way to them, for though an alHgator can live on the land,
he could not travel far over it without attracting observa-
tion, and once observed, his destruction would be speedy.

On this matter I remember once hearing a curious
story. There is a tank held very sacred by the
Hindoos among the hills in a very wild part of India,
somewhere, I think, near the frontiers of Bengal. In
this tank there lives always a single alligator, never
more. When this alligator dies, in the course of a
few days another takes its place, but where this last
alligator comes from, how it finds its way to the tank,
or how it becomes aware that the tank is tenantless,
are mysteries that have never been explained. In the
neighbourhood of this tank there is, or used to be, a
small military station. The story was told me by an
English officer, who held a command there ; he was
himself quite persuaded of its truth.

I will conclude this discourse on the alligators by
mentioning that there are in India two distinct varieties
of these creatures ; they are termed respectively the
" gurrial " and the " mugger." The two varieties differ
only, at least to an ordinary observer, in the shape of
their heads. The " gurrial " has a comparatively small,
long head and enormously lengthened pointed jaws,
resembling, as I have already remarked, the blades of
a pair of gigantic, long, thin scissors. The head of the
" mugger " is squarish and clumsy-looking to a degree.
It calls to mind a good deal the head of a hippo-
potamus.

The " gurrial " is the variety which is much the most
commonly seen. I presume that it is also the most

THE RIVER 43

numerous. Certainly the "mugger" is but seldom to
be observed lying on the sand banks.

Both varieties are sufficiently ugly — hideous, I might
even say — but of the two the palm for ugliness must
be given to the " mugger," for its great clumsy head
lacks the picturesqueness which the long, sharp-pointed
jaws give to the head of the "gurrial." But, hideous
as both varieties of alligators are, their appearance
does not excite the same feeling of loathing and re-
pulsion as does that of a rat and some other animals
who are certainly more symmetrically formed.

Although about here, on the Ganges, the long-nosed
alligator is termed the "gurrial," and the short-nosed
alligator the " mugger," this nomenclature does not
universally prevail. In other parts of Upper India the
names are oppositely bestowed : the long-nosed variety
is termed the " mugger," and the short-nosed variety is
designated as the "gurrial."

I had been sitting on the terrace for some time con-
templating the alligators, the melon beds, and the great
expanse of sand beyond them. Then by chance I
happened to cast my eyes down the sluggish stream
immediately below me.

The opposite bank was very broken and uneven. As
I looked it seemed to me that fifty yards or so away
there was something moving along the bottom of the
bank, close by the water's edge. I looked attentively,
and was sure. It was a long, large animal, slowly making
its way up the stream in my direction. It came nearer,
and I perceived it was an otter, what the natives term
the "jul-manus," or water-man.

44 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I now became very interested. The otter continued
to advance ; it was most pretty to watch his move-
ments. He crept along with the utmost caution,
evidently quite unaware that I was observing him.
Every few paces he paused, raised his head, and looked
around, as if to make sure that no danger threatened.
He presently came on till he was nearly opposite where
I was seated. I was wondering where he would go,
and what was his object, when something appeared to
alarm him. He stopped, raised his head, gave a sharp
glance behind, and then made a plunge into the
stream, and was out of sight below the surface in an
instant.

I sat regretting his departure, when, to my delight,
in a minute or two he reappeared, and now on my
side of the stream, and immediately below me. He
had also altered his course, and was proceeding down-
wards. On account of the bank, I could not now so
well observe him, but I caught occasional glimpses of
him, proceeding always in the same slow, cautious
manner as before. At length he reached a place where
the bank projected. He went round the projection,
and I saw him no more. I waited a few minutes, but
he did not return, and then I left to take my evening
drive.

The next morning I came across some old acquaint-
ances in the shape of a species of ant, termed by the
natives the " burtunga." I had known these ants very
well at former stations, but had not as yet met them
here. This is one of the largest of the Indian ants,
and it appears even larger than it is from its standing

THE RIVER 45

so very high on its legs. Most ants seem to crawl with
their bodies close to the ground, but this ant runs, and
with its body well elevated above the surface. It differs
from most other ants also in this : it makes its nest
in the ground, but passes nearly all its existence on a
certain species of tree.

I came on these ants this morning quite by accident.
I was sauntering down one of the paths of the garden,
when I saw a very large ant come out of a hole in the
path ; I recognized him as a " burtunga." On seeing
me he paused, appeared alarmed, turned, and fled
hurriedly back. Once within his hole, he seemed re-
assured ; he remained standing just within the entrance
calmly regarding me. I concluded from this that the
hole was the passage to his nest ; and this it proved
to be.

Curious to see what his next proceedings would be,
I withdrew to a little distance, and there remained and
watched. In a minute or so the ant came out ; he
seemed to look around ; he could not, I imagine, see
me where I stood. I suppose also that, thinking all
safe, he gave some signal, for presently a whole
multitude of other ants came swarming out. I noticed
that each ant carried in his mouth a small pellet of
earth. The ants ran with their pellets to a short
distance, dropped them, and returned to the hole, I
presume, to bring out more. There was such a con-
tinued stream of ants coming out, and all bearing
pellets of earth, that I concluded that the galleries of a
nest were being excavated or enlarged. Whatever the
work was on which the ants were engaged, they were

46 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

evidently anxious to complete it quickly. They rushed
in and out, dropped their pellets, and returned for more
at quite racing speed.

After looking on for some little while, I came for-
ward. My appearance evidently caused alarm. So
soon as the ants perceived me, the whole multitude at
once dropped their pellets, fled back to the hole, and
buried themselves in its furthest recesses. One or two,
however, must have remained near the entrance to
watch, for as soon as I retired again, then, in a minute
or so, the whole body of ants reappeared and resumed
their labours. I repeated the experiment once or twice,
and always with the same result : when I appeared, the
ants fled ; as soon as I had retired, they came out,
carrying their pellets as before.

In this fear of man these burtunga ants are peculiar.
I never noticed the same fear exhibited by ants of any
other species. Nay, more, so far as my observation
goes, other species of ants not only exhibit no fear of
man, but do not even manifest any apparent conscious-
ness of man's presence. What is still more curious is
that these burtunga ants exhibit this fear of man only
when they are on the ground. When swarming about
the trees, I never saw them display the least appre-
hension when I approached them, or even show at
all by their movements that they were aware I had
done so.

The tree that the burtunga ants most frequent is of a
species something resembling the "peepul," which is allied
in a way to our poplar. The tree has a smooth, light-
coloured bark and rather scanty foliage. The move-

THE RIVER 47

ments of the ants on the trunk and branches are,
therefore, very plainly observable. It is very interesting
to watch them ; they swarm over the tree in thousands,
for what purpose I could never clearly determine.
They did not appear to feed, or to carry away seeds
to the nest, or to repose, or, in short, to do anything
save to roam incessantly about, and always at full
speed. The rapidity of their movements used always
to excite my wonder. They ran up the trunk appa-
rently with as much facility as they ran down it, and
they raced along the under and the upper sides of the
branches with just the same ease and rapidity. One
might almost fancy that the force of gravity did not
affect them.

The burtunga ants are not only themselves of great
size, but they have especially large and powerful jaws.
They are capable consequently of inflicting, for an
ant, a very severe bite. Their power in this respect
is utilized in native surgery. They are used, as thread
is with us, to stitch together the sides of wounds,
especially sword cuts. The mode of procedure has
been thus described to me : A number of these ants
are caught and held in readiness ; the edges of the
wound are then pressed together, and the ants placed
on them, each at short intervals. The ants im-
mediately bite, digging their jaws into the flesh on
either side of the wound. The necks of the ants
are next snipped off with a pair of scissors ; the bodies
fall to the ground, leaving the edges of the wound
firmly held together by the line of heads and jaws.

The English surgeon of the station, to whom I

48 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

once described the procedure, declared it to be im-
possible, and gave many reasons why it must neces-
sarily be so. Nevertheless, though I have never
witnessed it, yet I cannot but believe it, for I have
heard the fact of its performance so often stated,
and that by persons of entire credibility, and who
had no possible object for deceiving me. Lately, too,
I have somewhere read that ants are similarly used
to fasten wounds in parts of South America.

I have mentioned that the second dust storm, that
I have described above, was accompanied by a slight
fall of rain. The fall was a mere shower, and such
showers are nothing unusual. They commonly occur
at this season, and also occasionally at other times.
I remember, however, two that were rather remarkable.
One occurred at this station shortly after my arrival
in the country ; I was then residing here with my
brother. It was towards the end of the cold season.
We were taking our morning walk along a road that
leads to the city by the bank of the river.

There was not a cloud in the sky, nor any appear-
ance of vapour, when suddenly it commenced to rain.
The rain did not last long, and was not exactly heavy,
but the drops of rain, I remember, were unusually
large ; and, what was the most singular, they appeared
to fall from vacancy, for, during all the few minutes
that the shower continued, the sky remained as un-
clouded and as clear as before.

The other shower occurred at Delhi, and during
the hot weather. It came almost as suddenly as the
shower I have just described, and it did not last

THE RIVER 49

much longer ; but so filled was the air with dust
that the rain descended less in the form of water
than of liquid mud. I was out walking at the time,
and when I had returned home, and my clothes were
dried, there was to be seen on every spot where a
drop of rain had fallen a little round patch of earth.

CHAPTER IV.
VISITORS

I HOLD here a high official position ; I receive in
consequence many native visitors. Some call to
ask favours, some merely to pay their respects. In
the matter of these visits there is a good deal of
etiquette. The day previous a message is sent desiring
permission to call, and that given, an hour is appointed.
Some further preliminaries have, however, still to be
arranged. I have to ascertain if the visitor is of
sufficient social standing to entitle him to a chair, and
if so, whether his position also permits him to bring
with him an attendant, that is into the room. Then,
further, I must make myself aware as to what distance
I should advance to receive my visitor when he arrives,
whether to the door of the house, the door of the room,
or merely a few steps over the carpet.

It is, however, only in the case of natives of the very
highest rank that these last questions arise, and of such
about here there are few or none. As regards the
visitors I at present receive, the only points I ever have
to determine are as to the granting the chair and the
admission of the attendant.

Neither of these points arose this morning, for the

so

VISITORS 51

visitor was my landlord ; and his family being old
residents in the city, his social position had been long
ago settled. He receives a chair, and being a young
man, he never cares to bring an attendant.

He had several times called on me already ; but I
mention his visit to-day because he told me a story
which, as an illustration of the early days of our rule,
much interested me. I have introduced the mention
of the visit at this stage of my narrative, but I must
confess that I do not exactly remember when it really
took place, whether before or after the occasion of the
dust storm.

In speaking of my visitor, I ought in strictness to
describe him, not as my landlord, but as one of my
landlords, for the house belongs equally to him and
his elder brother. The two brothers are bankers and
traders in the city. My visitor, however, though the
younger brother, chiefly manages the business ; he does
so on account of the long and frequent absences of his
elder brother.

The elder brother has a passion, I cannot exactly
say for travelling, but for making journeys. He goes
frequently to Simla, to various places in the Punjaub,
and occasionally in the opposite direction as far as
Benares, and even Calcutta. As the journeys have no
very special object, they are regarded by his fellow-
townsmen with some astonishment, and are generally
attributed to the influence of a ghost, one of the variety
known as the " Burram Rakshus."

The story goes that the grandfather of my landlord
once purchased a house ; afterwards he discovered in it

52 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

a vault containing a great treasure. This treasure he
kept, whereas he ought to have made it over to the late
owner or his heirs. In consequence of his not doing
so, the spirit of the late owner has ever since haunted
him and his descendants ; and at various times it has
also done them much evil : it has caused them
pecuniary losses, sickness, deaths, and other mis-
fortunes. Of late years the ghost has attached itself
in especial to the elder brother. It appears to him at
night and terrifies him, and fills his mind during the
day-time with all kinds of worries and apprehensions.
It is to escape from the influence of the ghost that he
makes these frequent journeys.

Possibly the story of the treasure may have some
slight foundation in fact, but it was not by such means
that the family obtained their fortune. How they did
really acquire it, in the course of his visit to-day, the
younger brother informed me.

" My grandfather," he said, " was head gomashtah
(agent) in the Commercial Residency here. It was in
the old days when the Company (the East India Com-
pany) traded. Mr. Dillon (so I will call him) was the
Resident. He was a very kind gentleman, and very
friendly to my grandfather. Every now and then
orders came from London to buy cotton. Mr. Dillon
as Resident was, of course, informed of the orders
before they were published. My grandfather, as was
the custom, used to go to Mr. Dillon every day to pay
his respects. Some day or other Mr, Dillon would
ask, ' What is the price of cotton ? ' My grandfather
would inform him. Mr. Dillon would be silent for a

VISITORS 53

minute or two ; then he would say, ' I think it would be
a good time to purchase.' My grandfather understood,
and when the visit was over he went into the bazaar
and bought all the cotton in the markets far and near.
Presently the orders of the Company to buy were pub-
lished. The price of cotton went up, and my grand-
father sold at a great profit. And thus in the course of
a few years, without any injury to the Company and
without any fraud or oppression to other persons, my
grandfather, simply by the favour and kindness of Mr.
Dillon, accumulated a fortune of very many lacs of
rupees."

It might be supposed that Mr. Dillon also benefited
himself Not in the least. He drew an immense salary,
lived in great style, and left but comparatively little
money behind him. What he did was out of pure good-
nature, and was, in native opinion, only a very amiable
and quite legitimate method of benefiting a subordinate.

The feelings of the English of that day were on
many matters much more in harmony with those of
the natives than they are at present, especially as
regarded their servants and subordinates. It was not
considered consistent with the dignity of any high
official that those who had served him for long and
faithfully should afterwards be compelled to enter the
service of another master. On leaving the country
every high official either pensioned his servants or
otherwise provided for them.

Sometimes the methods adopted were rather amusing,
as in the following instance. When in another district
many years previously I often heard the story related.

54 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

Mr. Smith — that name will do as well as another —
was the magistrate of the district in the early days of
our rule. When he was about to retire from the service
and return home, he proceeded to provide for his
servants. Some he pensioned ; some he gave money
to ; for the rest he had arranged Government appoint-
ments. Then Mr. Smith called before him these
servants, and asked what situation each would prefer.
One said he would be a thannahdar — that is, head of a
police district — another said he would be a jemmahdar —
that is, a chief officer of police — and so on. One servant
chose one appointment ; another servant chose another.
And whatever appointment they selected, that appoint-
ment they received. At length all were provided for
except the cook, and he as yet had not spoken.

So Mr. Smith called him forward, and addressing him,
said, " Bawachee Sahib " (" My Lord Cook "), " and what
would you like to be ? " The cook answered, " I
would like to be nazir" (sheriff). "But," said Mr.
Smith, " you cannot read or write. How then will you
be able to do the work of sheriff? " Said the cook,
" By the blessing of Providence and the good fortune
of your honour, I shall do the work sufficiently well."

Mr. Smith tried to dissuade him, and so also did his
fellow-servants, but without effect. The cook remained
obdurate to all the arguments addressed to him ; he
merely replied, " I will be sheriff, or I will be nothing."
So in the end Mr. Smith gave way, and the cook was
made sheriff. Soon after Mr. Smith retired from the
service, and Mr. Jenkins came as magistrate in his
place. Mr. Jenkins heard the story of the cook, and

VISITORS 55

was much amused at it. The first day Mr. Jenkins
held office, the cook as nazir had to present some
report. It was his duty to read it, but he excused
himself. " Unfortunately he had left his spectacles at
home." Mr. Jenkins smiled and said, " Well, bring
them to-morrow."

The next day the spectacles were all right. But the
nazir explained that he had a pain in his eyes that
prevented his using them. Mr. Jenkins smiled again,
and hoped that by the following morning the pain
would have departed. But though the next day the
pain had left, the nazir was still unable to read on
account of a hoarseness that had come on in the
night.

On this Mr. Jenkins laughed, and said to the cook,
" I know all about it. I cannot keep you as nazir, but
I will give you another appointment just as good
where reading and writing are not required"; and so
he did.

The cook held this appointment, whatever it was, I
believe, till his death. He had his son educated, and
in due time got him into the Government service. In
my day this son was the kotwal (mayor) of the city,
and a very efficient officer he was considered to be.

I am fond of conversing with the natives who call
on me. I often in this way obtain much curious in-
formation about the early days of our rule and the
times that preceded it. Also occasionally the stories
related are in themselves very interesting. Especially
so was one quite recently told me. The narrator was a
Mahomedan, a man advanced in years, and who held

56 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

a Government appointment of some importance. He
had called to pay his respects, being in a way one of
my subordinates. In the course of conversation he
happened to mention that his family came originally
from Persia, and had only been settled in India for
three generations ; and then he proceeded to tell me
the reason of their coming.

His grandfather, he said, whom I will term Ismael
Khan, had been a noble of rank at the court of
Nadir Shah, the king of Persia who in the last
century invaded India, captured Delhi, and carried
away the world-famous peacock-throne and countless
other treasures. He was besides one of the most
bloodthirsty tyrants that even Asiatic history records.

One day, my visitor went on to relate. Nadir
Shah was holding audience. Nadir Shah, arrayed in
all his splendour, was seated on his throne. On his
right hand and on his left his nobles stood before him.
They stood in an attitude of reverence, their hands
folded, their eyes cast down. But his grandfather,
Ismael Khan, in a moment of forgetfulness, raised his
eyes. As ill-fortune would have it, at that moment
Nadir Shah happened to be looking towards where
Ismael Khan was standing. Their eyes met. "So you
stare at me ? " Nadir Shah exclaimed, and his voice
was angry. Nadir Shah said no more, but that was
sufficient.

As soon as the audience was over Ismael Khan
returned in haste to his house ; he summoned his
steward, and bade him have saddled all the fleetest
horses in the stables, and to collect the most trust-

VISITORS 57

worthy of his followers, and to tell them each man to
get his arms and some provisions, and to make ready
at once for a long journey. Ismael Khan then entered
his zenana and collected all his jewels, and hid them
about his person, and desired his favourite wife and one
of her attendants to do the same. He also tied about
him in a long purse as many gold pieces as he could
safely carry, and gave as many more in charge to his
steward.

By the time these preparations were completed
evening was approaching. Ismael Khan waited till
darkness had fallen, then he mounted his horse, and,
accompanied by his favourite wife and her attendant,
his steward and five-and-twenty horsemen, he rode
silently out of the city and directed his course towards
Hindostan.

I pass over the narrative of the journey, though, as
told me, it was very interesting. It was a journey of
terrible hardship, of cold, hunger, danger, and privation.
And, above all, there hung over them the never-ceasing
dread of pursuit and capture ; and capture would
be death. At length, after many weeks, the party
reached the river Indus. Once across it, they were safe,
for the Indus formed the boundary of Nadir Shah's
dominions.

But the crossing the river was not easy : there was
trouble and much delay in procuring boats, and then
the embarking on them was a slow process ; and in
the midst of it a troop of horsemen appeared, de-
scending the range of hills behind them to the west.
One may imagine then the hurry, the terror, and all

58 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the while the horsemen drawing nearer and nearer. At
length the men, the two women, and the horses were
got on board, and the boats shoved off, and none too
early, for before half the stream was crossed the troop
of horsemen had reached the river bank. They shouted
to the fugitives to return ; they threatened ; they en-
treated ; they endeavoured to persuade. And this they
continued till the boats had touched the opposite shore ;
then the troopers turned their horses and rode slowly
away.

Ismael Khan, now in safety, proceeded on to Oude,
and presented himself before the then Nawab, the
celebrated Munsoor Ally Khan, better known by his
title of Sufder Jung (breaker of the ranks in battle).
Sufder Jung was himself a Persian. He took an interest
in Ismael Khan as a fellow-countryman, and bestowed
on him some appointment. "To this appointment,"
my visitor continued, " his son, my father, in due course
succeeded. But, alas ! though the salary was good, my
father did not save. When he died he left but little, and
so, as it was necessary for me to obtain employment, I
entered the Government service, and by diligence, the
blessing of Providence, and the kindness of my superiors,
I have attained to my present position."

Since the day that followed the dust storm I have
generally sat on the terrace that overlooks the river
for some little while before taking my evening drive.
The cooling effect of the storm has, however, long ago
passed away. Indeed, the heat for some days has, if
possible, been even more intense than before. The
river shows its effects. Many of the pools have dried

VISITORS 59

up, and the water in all the streams has perceptibly
diminished. The stream immediately below the terrace
has become all but stagnant, and in the places where
the water is shallow its breadth has diminished by fully
a third. The brown patches where the sand was moist
have disappeared, and the river-bed displays one uni-
form dry white surface, most dazzling to the eye.

The shrinking of the streams and the drying up of
the sand have almost put an end to the display of
animal life, at least as it used to appear from this
terrace. The alligators have migrated to deeper waters,
the otter no more puts in an appearance, and even the
birds have moved eastward and taken up positions in
the neighbourhood of the main stream — not, however,
quite all : some three or four still remain. They stand
motionless, each well apart from the others, on a sand
bank nearly in front. These are " buggolahs," a species
of " waders," always to be found on the margins of the
rivers and drying ponds. The buggolah is not a pretty
bird, nor its ways interesting, yet, seen here on the river-
bed, it has a sort of odd attractiveness. With its dingy
plumage and melancholy aspect, it seems the embodi-
ment of the dreariness of the great, sandy waste. Its
quietude, its utter inoffensiveness, excite, too, for it a
sort of sympathy. One can almost fancy it as oppressed
by some great sorrow.

Its powers of immobility are really extraordinary.
They almost equal those of the alligator. The bug-
golah will stand by the riverside for hours, its head
sunk between its shoulders, its long beak resting on its
breast. It stands thus motionless as if carved out of

6o HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

wood. Then, like the alligator, a sudden impulse
possesses it : it starts to life, mounts with a spring
into the air, and is transformed. The under-plumage
of the wings and body is a brilliant white. The flight
of the buggolah is not long nor particularly graceful,
but while it lasts the bird, with its pure white plumage,
is really a pretty object. But soon it alights, and be-
comes again a dull grey wooden statue.

In justice to the buggolah, I must, however, admit
that very few, if any, of our resident river birds are
gaily coloured ; but we occasionally have from the
east some very gorgeous visitors. A short time since
a party of six flamingoes made their appearance one
morning on the sands. They remained for two days,
moving about with extreme stateliness. Their scarlet
crests and wing feathers quite illumined the river-bed.

This afternoon as I sit on the terrace the only colour
that relieves the monotonous expanse of sand is that
afforded by the melon beds, and this is diminishing.
The leaves have lost something of their first cool
freshness, and a good deal of the fruit has been
gathered ; still enough remains to make a pretty display.
It is only the yellow melons that catch the eye here
from the terrace ; the green varieties too much resemble
the leaves in tint to be distinguishable.

Gay and bright as the yellow melons appear among
the green leaves at this distance, their colouring when
seen near is far inferior in beauty to that of some of
the green varieties, and of these for variety and loveli-
ness of tints and harmony of blending the palm must
be certainly assigned to the water-melon. It is, perhaps,

VISITORS 6 1

when these melons are cut that their colouring is seen
in its greatest perfection, for to the deep green without
is added the rich crimson of the fruit within.

The merits of the water-melon are confined to its
appearance. It is never eaten except by the poorest
classes. According to tradition, however, it used
occasionally to be drunk — that is, its juice, well mixed
with claret — by the English in former days. I remember
hearing it told of one high official of that time who
used to conduct his work with one of these melons
propped upright on the table beside him. The upper
end of the melon was cut off, the mass of seed scooped
out, and claret poured in. The combined liquid used
then to be ladled out and drunk as inclination prompted.
That cholera did not result must be regarded as provi-
dential.

I do not know if the melon is indigenous to India ;
but all the finest varieties are said to have been intro-
duced by the Mahomedans from Cabul and elsewhere.
The introduction of the finest variety of all, the musk-
melon, is attributed to the Emperor Babur, the founder
of the Mogul dynasty. In connection with this melon,
the Emperor, in his charming memoirs, relates a rather
touching incident.

In the course of one of his campaigns the Emperor
was encamped in a desolate tract near the banks of the
Jumna. The Emperor was seated in his tent when
a messenger arrived with a basket of these musk-melons
from Cabul. The sight of them recalled recollections
of his native country of Ferghanah, for it is there that
this melon grows in its greatest perfection. The

62 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

Emperor, in his memoirs, recalls with loving recollec-
tion the scenery of Ferghanah — its snow-clad moun-
tains, its clear running streams, its green meadows
carpeted with violets. In his then dreary surroundings
these memories, as they arose, so saddened him that,
as he relates, he wept.

While I have been contemplating the melon-beds
a line of native boats has come in sight round a bend
of the river below. Clumsy, awkward structures in
reality, at this distance they look picturesque. Besides,
moving along each behind the others, they give some
little appearance of life and animation to the landscape.
They are being tracked up the river along the further
bank of the main stream. The tracking ropes are
fastened to the summit of the tall, thick mast, and
each man of the crew, fifteen or twenty, perhaps, in
number, pulls by a separate rope. From here, where
I sit, neither men nor ropes are visible ; but when near
enough to be just in sight the effect is curious : the men
appear like ants harnessed to the mast, as it were, by
the section of a spider's web.

Before the days of the railways the entire heavy
traffic of the country from east to west and the reverse
was carried on by means of these boats, and they still
convey a large proportion of it.

Formerly these boats were also much used by
European families in ascending and descending the
river. A boat was hired, a sort of bungalow erected
on the deck, and the travellers performed the journey
carrying with them their servants and all the comforts
of home. The downward voyage was well enough, for

VISITORS 63

the boat floated down with the current, but the ascent
of the river was terribly tedious : the voyage of many
hundreds of miles had to be made at the pace of a slow
walk, and that only during the day-time.

Next morning, on returning from my ride, I visited
the ants of the lower nest. For some few days, I fear,
I have rather neglected them. I am sorry to say that
I found them all engaged in fighting. From the number
of dead and disabled lying about, I concluded that the
battle had been going on for some time ; I remained
and watched it. Like the battles of Homer, it appeared
to consist of an infinity of single combats. The com-
bats having once commenced, they continued till one
or both of the combatants were killed or disabled.
If only one, then the victor, like Achilles, dragged the
body of the defeated one away in triumph, and then
returned to find a fresh antagonist.

After looking on for some little while, I discovered
that the slaughter was not by any means so great as
at first sight it had appeared. Many of the apparently
dead were merely pretending ; they were not even
seriously injured. After lying for some short time
motionless they would rise, look around them, and walk
leisurely away. One interesting example of the re-
suscitation I presently witnessed.

A combat had taken place between a very large ant
and a rather unusually small one. I did not witness
the combat, only the result. The small ant had fallen ;
the large ant was dragging away his body. I had seen
many apparently dead ants revive; but this poor ant,
I made sure, was really defunct, he looked so utterly

64 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

limp and crumpled up. The large ant was dragging
away his victim along the foraging path in the direction
of the pampas grass. I followed. The large ant had pro-
ceeded for the distance of about fifty feet or so ; then he
met another ant of much his own size coming home-
wards. The two ants stopped and entered into a
conversation, as it seemed, through their antennae.

The conversation continued for some time. When
it had ended the victor ant released his hold of his
victim, turned, and went back to the nest. The other
ant also turned, took hold of the apparent corpse of the
small ant by one leg, and commenced to retrace his
steps, dragging the body along behind him. He
dragged it to near the end of the track ; then he let
it go and departed.

The small ant lay motionless where it was left for
some little while. Then, to my surprise, it began to
move. Next it rose and commenced to clean off the
dust from its head and face with its front feet. This
done, it stood motionless for about the space of a
minute. Then it commenced to crawl away ; it moved
at first very slowly and with apparent diflficulty, and
seemed half dazed. Presently it proceeded more
briskly. Finally it broke into a trot, and ran off ap-
parently quite well.

I now returned to the nest ; the fighting was going
on as actively as ever. I arrived just in time to witness
the commencement of an interesting combat. Two
large and equally matched ants came out of the nest
together. As soon as they were clear of the entrance,
they stopped, turned, and faced each other. They then

VISITORS 65

commenced to shift their ground and make feints of
attack with their front legs, just in the manner of two
prizefighters. This went on for a minute or more ; then
one of the combatants made a sudden rush forward and
caught the other by one of his antennae. I am sorry
to say that my notes do not record the further progress
of the engagement nor its final result, but they do
that of another combat.

This last combat was being waged between two very
unequally matched antagonists — a large ant and a
very small one. It had apparently been going on for
some time ; and, contrary to what might have been
expected, the small ant had as yet got much the best
of it. He had somehow managed to seize his large
antagonist by one of his hind legs, and from this
position, do what he would, the large ant was unable
to dislodge him. He made desperate efforts ; but he
could neither shake the small ant off nor rub him off,
nor could he turn his own head sufficiently far round to
bite him.

I remained for some time watching the engagement,
in fact till the increasing heat of the sun's rays warned
me that it was time to retreat to the house. Then,
as I was most anxious to see how the affair would
terminate, I sent for a large saucer. I raised the large
ant gently, and deposited him in the saucer, the small
ant still clinging firmly to his leg. I then carried the
saucer to the house, and placed it in a niche in the
verandah. The edges of the saucer, I should mention,
were too high and too smooth for the ants to climb
over.

F

66 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

In the afternoon, on my return from the office, so
soon as it was cool enough to venture outside I went
into the verandah, very curious to see what had hap-
pened. The position of affairs was not at all what
might have been anticipated. The two ants were
separated, and were walking about the saucer on terms
of the most perfect amiability ; and, moreover, what
struck me as still more singular, the leg of the large
ant, notwithstanding the severe biting it had sustained,
showed no sign or indication whatever of injury. To
make sure on this point I examined the leg through
my magnifying-glass. The glass was a powerful one.
Nevertheless, though I examined most carefully, I
could not discover on the leg any cut, wound, or even
indentation. The small ant must have consequently
retained his hold merely by the pressure of his jaws.
That he should have been able to retain his hold so
firmly showed how powerful a pressure his tiny jaws
were able to exert.

My notes do not exactly record how long the fighting
continued, but about the third morning, I think, on
visiting the nest, I found that the ants had resumed
their usual occupations, and had laid out an entirely
new foraging track. The rapidity with which the track
had been constructed showed their diligence ; a portion
of it manifested either their obstinacy or their extreme
stupidity.

The new track lay along the bank of the terrace, not
far from the edge. At one place the bank had given
way. In consequence of this, for the distance of about
a yard, in place of firm, level soil there was a mass of

VISITORS 67

loose, crumbling sand, slanting down at a very steep
inclination to a depth of nearly six feet. A bend in
the track of a few inches would have avoided this
rough and dangerous spot, but this bend the ants had
not made; they had instead continued the track straight
across it. The result was to entail on themselves an
immense amount of quite unnecessary labour, and not
a little danger as well. They had always great trouble
and difficulty in crossing over the rough, crumbling
sand, and very frequently they did not succeed in
doing so : the loose sand gave way beneath them,
and they rolled down to the bottom of the incline.
And if they happened to be bringing home seeds, in
the course of the roll they invariably lost them.
Besides, even for ants the reascending the sandy in-
cline was a work of time and difficulty. But no
experience had any effect on the ants. To the last
they continued to endure the labour and risk of cross-
ing the loose sand sooner than alter the track and
avoid it.

I have spoken already of how rapidly and how
strongly these foraging tracks become marked. Of
this, in the course of the next day or two, I had a
striking example. I was strolling about the garden,
not far from the house, when I came on a foraging
track which I had not previously noticed. It could
not, therefore, have been very long laid out. It ran
for part of its distance through some short but very
coarse, dry-looking grass ; then it crossed the carriage
drive. Where it ran through the grass, the grass was
completely destroyed. The track was as clear and

68 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

even as if the grass had been rooted up. Where it
crossed the carriage drive, the track, besides being far
broader, was also smoother, harder, and more distinct
than were the marks of even the most recent and
clearest of the carriage-wheels. It is possible that the
feet or bodies of the ants may secrete some acid which
destroys the grass ; but even if so, this would not
explain the clearness of their track across the firm, hard
surface of the carriage drive.

CHAPTER V.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS

FOR the last few days the burning winds have
ceased to blow. The air without has lost its
crisp dryness, and the landscape its wintry aspect,
while within the house the same refreshing breeze no
longer passes through the tatties. The heat in con-
sequence, though really no greater, is to the sensations
far more oppressive. This cessation of the hot winds
is one of the indications of the approach of the rainy
season. In the afternoon, when I paid my usual visit
to the terrace, I became aware of another. The appear-
ance of the river had entirely changed.

Since that evening when I had sat and watched the
passing boats, the water in the streams and pools had
been continually diminishing. The stream below the
terrace had shrunk in some places to half its former
breadth, and it had everywhere almost entirely ceased
to flow. It was now quite a wide sheet of water.
The water had even submerged most of the melon-
beds, and along the bank it was rushing in a rapid
current full of whirls and eddies. Further beyond,
where only yesterday there had stretched that dreary
waste of sand, there was now a lake extending far

69

70 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

away towards the further shore and prettily dotted
over with long, winding islands. These islands were
the summits of the larger sand banks. This sudden
rise of the river was not due to any fall of rain, but
to the melting of the snows in the higher Himalaya.
This melting of the snows is generally shortly after
followed by the arrival of the rains.

But a fortnight passed, and no rains arrived. We
had many tantalizing disappointments. The river sub-
sided as suddenly as it had risen. It rose again more
slightly and again subsided. Several times clouds
gathered ; the heavens were overcast ; a storm seemed
imminent : but just when our expectations were at
the highest the clouds mounted high in air and dis-
persed, and we had again the blue sky and the blazing
sunshine. At length our disappointments terminated :
the rains arrived.

It was about ten o'clock in the morning. It happened,
as on the occasion of the dust storm, to be a holiday.
I was sitting in the drawing-room, when the servants
came running in to tell me that a storm was approach-
ing. I went at once out into the verandah, the one
which faced towards the river, for, while it is the west
wind which brings the storms of dust, these storms of
rain advance always from the east.

On reaching the verandah I saw a low bank of
intensely black cloud stretching all along the eastern
horizon. It rose rapidly, so rapidly that in a minute
or so, as it seemed, it had overspread the entire firma-
ment. For a brief space there was intense stillness ;
then came a rushing wind, a flash of lightning, and the

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 71

rain descended. The rain did not fall, as with us, in
a succession of drops, but in a vast multitude of con-
tinuous, uninterrupted streams. It continued thus to
fall for over the period of two hours. When it ceased
the face of nature was changed.

The sky that before was thick with dust was now an
azure blue, clear as crystal, while the trees and shrubs,
all wet with the raindrops, glistened with the freshest
green. The rain, moreover, had so cooled the air that
long before sunset I could walk about the garden with-
out inconvenience.

The effect of this first fall of the rains on animated
nature is all but magical. The frogs, the thousands
of insects that during the intense heat have been lying
torpid and concealed, now awake to life and activity.
By sound and movement they seem to be making
amends for their long period of silence and repose.
The frogs croak, the crickets chirp, and everywhere
the burrowing insects and small animals throw up their
tiny hillocks.

But of all the effects of this first shower of the rains
none is so striking as the sudden appearance in count-
less myriads of that beautiful little insect termed by the
natives the " beerbhootee." Its scientific appellation
I do not know. It is a small insect, seldom exceeding
in size the dimensions of an ordinary pea. Seen
through a magnifying-glass, its form is something that
of a short, thick-legged spider. As it moves over the
surface of the ground it resembles nothing so much
as a morsel of animated velvet, and velvet of the richest
and softest crimson.

72 HAUNl^S AND HOBBIES

The beerbhootee does not remain long, and its de-
parture is almost as sudden as its arrival. After a week
or so its numbers diminish ; in ten days it has dis-
appeared, and till the commencement of the rainy
season of the following year it is not again beheld.
Where the beerbhootees come from, whither they go,
and where in the interval they remain are all mysteries,
and so far as I am aware they are mysteries of which
as yet no explanation has been afforded. During the
short period that they remain I could never discover
that they fed, or made nests, or performed any other
work. They appeared to spend their time only in
never-ceasing and quite purposeless wanderings.

The burrowing insects employed themselves certainly
more actively. As soon as the rain had well aroused
them they lost no time in setting to work. When I took
my usual stroll through the garden I found all the raised
earthen paths quite riddled with holes. The holes were
of the most varying sizes : some would only just admit
the finest wire, while others were almost wide enough to
allow a marble to run down them, and between the two
extremes there was every gradation.

I had a curiosity to ascertain what sort of insects some
of the holes contained. I selected for first examination
a hole of medium dimensions, and had it dug up. The
process was very tedious. The hole was long and
winding ; it descended rather deep into the ground, and
if its course was once lost in the moist earth it would
have been next to impossible to recover it. To prevent
such a misfortune, the greatest care had to be exercised,
but our trouble in the end was rewarded. We at length

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 73

reached the termination, and there, at a depth of about
two feet below the surface, we came on an insect the
like of which neither I nor any of the servants had ever
before beheld. The head and body were those of an
ant, but of an ant of gigantic dimensions ; the abdomen,
both in size and appearance, was that of a small slug.

I had the insect carefully lifted and placed on the
ground for examination. Unfortunately, near where it
was placed there was ,an ant-track, and at the time many
ants were passing along it,- The insect was hardly
deposited on the ground before, by some instinct, the
ants seemed to become aware of its presence. A party
of them immediately left the track and made a rush to
attack it. The details of the attack and its result were
much the same as those I have already described made
on the ant-lions. i\s the ants advanced the insect
received them with its jaws ; at each snap an ant was
left headless. Three or four had thus fallen, and I and
the servants had driven off the remainder, when the
same catastrophe occurred as had happened to the ant-
lion — two ants got round unnoticed behind, and now
fastened themselves on the insect's abdomen.

One of the two ants I managed to brush off; the
other had fixed himself too firmly, and to have torn
him off might have fatally injured the insect. As the
best thing to do, I had the insect removed on a leaf
and placed on a patch of very soft earth, there to
burrow if he desired to. This the insect did, but he
only burrowed just sufficiently deep to conceal himself.
I had the spot marked, and the next morning I went to
examine it. On removing the earth we found that the

74 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

ant was gone, the insect still there, but, alas ! he was
dead.

At the time when I discovered this insect I had never
seen a queen of the white ants. Afterwards when I saw
one it seemed to me that this insect must have been
such. But later on I became doubtful. The queen of
the white ants has certainly the same ant-like head and
body, and the same enormous abdomen ; but then
none of them that I met with were able to move, much
less to burrow ; and, moreover, they were never found
alone or in a hole, but always within the voluminous
comb constructed for them by their subject ants — combs
filled with eggs and young white ants in every stage of
development.

I afterwards made many other explorations. The
results of some I may record. One of the most in-
teresting, however, was made previously to the com-
mencement of the rains, a few days after the dust storm.
It was the afternoon, and I was proceeding as usual to
sit on the terrace. On my way I happened to notice in
the side of the path a hole very much resembling that
of a field-mouse ; some impulse moved me to have it
dug up.

At the depth of not more than a foot we came on the
inhabitant ; he proved to be a spider. He was an
enormous creature, and of a most disgusting appearance:
he had a great brown-coloured, bloated body and long,
thick, hairy legs. As spiders cannot burrow, of course he
had not himself excavated his residence. It was really
the hole of a field-mouse ; the mouse for some reason
had abandoned it, and the spider had taken possession.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 75

Although the spider had not constructed the hole, he
had taken so much pains and displayed such skill in its
adornment that, ugly as he was, I began to regard him
quite with interest. He had lined the entrance of the
hole for some short distance with a matting, most
elaborately and cleverly constructed, of blades of grass,
while the mouth of the hole was protected by a kind of
curtain formed of similar materials. I felt quite sorry
that out of mere curiosity I should have destroyed all
the results of his labour and ingenuity.

A day or two after I came on the hole of another
ground spider, or rather, I should say, another aban-
doned hole of a field-mouse of which a ground spider
had taken possession. The entrance to this hole was
protected by a similar but even more elaborately woven
curtain. I gently lifted it. It moved on a fastening
at the top, and I perceived the hole behind was not
only lined with blades of grass, but that the grass was
plastered over with a thin layer of mud. I was
anxious to explore the hole to discover the species and
appearance of its occupant, but I refrained ; I had
not the heart to destroy all that he had been at such
pains in constructing. I may mention that I sub-
sequently found that many species, both of insects
and also of animals, occupy residences which other
creatures have constructed. Sometimes the residence
has been abandoned by its constructor of his own free
will ; sometimes the new occupant has compelled him
to vacate it.

But the insects are not the only creatures which the
commencement of the rains has recalled to life and

76. HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

activity. The frogs also have awoke from their long
hot -weather slumber, and have emerged from their
hiding-places in the mud. Of this fact at night I
had unpleasant evidence. Early in the evening their
croaking commenced. As darkness came on it grew
louder ; by bedtime it was overpowering. I do not
know that it is then in reality louder, but it seems so.
Interfering with sleep, one is more conscious of it.
The croaking is so loud, so incessant, it so fills the
air in every direction, that one fancies that the frogs
which utter it must be present in thousands. Observa-
tion shows that this is quite a delusion. The frogs
are really but very few. I do not suppose that those
whose voices now so disturb me number more than
half a dozen.

The Indian frogs, I ma}- here mention, sometimes
attain enormous dimensions, quite equal to those of a
young duck. At another station I kept a tealery.
When visiting it one morning, I noticed what I
thought was one of the teal huddled up in the drain
that carried off the surplus water from the tank. I
went near to see if it was alive and to discover how it
had got out, and then I perceived that what I had sup-
posed to be a teal was only an immense frog. It was
quite as large as the largest of the teal, larger, indeed,
than many of them.

But, besides the frogs, we have at night since the
rains commenced other musicians. The chief of these
are the "jheengoos," a variety of cricket. Three or
four of them have established themselves on the path
just before the verandah which faces the river. There,

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 77

each seated before his residence, they chirp the live-
long night, relieving each other, so I fancy, at short
intervals. At first I found their chirping a little disturb-
ing, but I soon became accustomed to the sound ;
before long I even came rather to like it. The
jheengoo is an interesting little creature. Later on
I shall describe him, and also some other members of
his species.

The weather just now at this commencement of the
rainy season is very agreeable, not exactly in itself, but
in its contrast to the weather that preceded it. I can
remain longer out in the morning ; I can leave the
house earlier in the afternoon ; but, most agreeable of
all, it is now no more necessary to keep the doors
closed and the rooms darkened. All day, as I sit and
read, I can look out on the garden, on the trees and
shrubs, and on the blue sky beyond. The clear,
bright blue of the sky is inexpressibly lovely ; even
still more beautiful are its evening tints ; and occa-
sionally, though not often, we have sunsets of surpassing
glory. Then, too, at night the stars shine with a
brilliancy unknown in our northern climate ; and
words fail to describe the charm of the moonlight.
Calm and bright, it bathes the trees, the garden, all
nature, in one soft mysterious glow.

The season, however, has its drawbacks, and one
of the greatest is the insects, in especial those that fly
by night. Of these pests the pre-eminence in point
of offensiveness must without question be given to
the one termed by the English " the flying bug."
These horrible little creatures possess a most sickening

78 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

odour, an odour which they communicate to whatever
they touch. When there is moonlight they fly outside,
but on dark nights the lamps in the house attract
them ; if not prevented, they enter in swarms. To
exclude them either gauze frames must be fitted to the
doorways, or else the doors must be closed before
the lamps are brought in.

The other evening, tempted by the pleasant coolness,
I omitted this last precaution. I was soon made most
unpleasantly aware of my forgetfulness. I was seated
reading and drinking my tea. Of a sudden one of
these little pests fell into my cup ; at the same time
four others alighted on my clothes, and a fifth got en-
tangled in my hair : but these were merely the advance
guard, a small party of explorers. In a minute or two
after the main body arrived. They came in by hun-
dreds, I may say by thousands : they filled the air ;
they covered the lamp-shade ; they drowned themselves
by scores in the teacup and milk -jug. I called the
servants and had the doors closed, but it was too late :
the insects were already in possession. I had no
remedy but to go out myself and sit and watch the
stars till it was time to retire to rest.

These "flying bugs" are unpleasant enough when
they simply alight on one's hands or face ; they are
more disagreeable when they become entangled in one's
hair. But it is when they fly into one's mouth and are
accidentally swallowed that the full horror of their
offensiveness is realized. Such an occurrence is one
that does not soon fade from the memory.

Nevertheless, nauseating as is the scent of these

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 79

insects, I have heard of an instance of its being
considered agreeable. It used to be said of a very high
EngHsh official of former days in these parts that
during the season when these " flying bugs " appear he
always kept a few tied up in a corner of his handker-
chief, and used to refresh himself at short intervals by
inhaling their aroma, as one might salts from a smelling-
bottle.

From these odious little creatures I will turn to the
inoffensive and more interesting insects the crickets.
Of the cricket there are here in India numerous
varieties. Those most commonly seen are the small
black cricket, which flies as well as hops, the larger
brown cricket, termed the bhughah, another very much
resembling it, known as the jheengoo, and a fourth,
of still greater size and more active, named the
lukharee.

The crickets all inhabit holes in the ground. The
holes are so long and so deep that I doubted at first
if the crickets could themselves have constructed them.
I even doubted, moreover, from the appearance of the
crickets, whether they were capable of excavating holes
at all. To satisfy myself on these points I made some
experiments. At different times I had a cricket of
each variety placed on one of the garden paths. These
paths, as I have mentioned, are of earth and consider-
ably raised. To prevent the crickets from wandering
away when left, I had a large earthen pan placed over
them upside down. These pans are termed nands.
They are made of the coarsest earthenware, and are
very capacious. Those I used were nearly a yard in

8o HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

diameter and about eighteen inches deep. The crickets
had consequently plenty of room to move about in and
select a spot they fancied for excavation.

I tried the first experiment on a black cricket. He
was placed under the pan in the afternoon about an
hour before sunset. I removed the pan the next
morning on returning from my ride. The cricket had
dug a hole, in which he was still working. I tested the
length of the hole with a stiff stem of grass. I found
it to be six inches. The cricket was quite at the end of
the hole, and, as I have said, still working. I remained
for some little while to watch his performances. He
appeared to dig away a certain amount of soil, and
then to shovel it back to the mouth of the hole, and
from thence to push it out unto the path. As the hole
descended at a very steep inclination, the labour of thus
shovelling up the earth must have been very consider-
able ; and of course it would immensely increase as
the hole became longer and deeper.

Now some of the cricket holes that I had already
dug up descended to a depth of between two and three
feet below the surface of the ground. The labour of
excavating them must have been enormous. These,
however, w^ere the holes of the larger jheengoo.

It was on the jheengoo that my next experiment
was performed. I need not repeat the details ; they
were the same as those already above described. On
removing the pan the next morning, I found that the
jheengoo had excavated a tunnel of the length of nine
inches.

The other experiments I need not describe. It is

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 8i

sufficient to mention that I became satisfied that the
crickets of all the four varieties did not take possession
of the abandoned domiciles of other animals, but that
they each excavated a little subterraneous habitation
for themselves.

The holes of all the crickets were generally very
similar. They were long, they descended to a con-
siderable depth and at a steep inclination, and they
had no ramifications. The hole of the jheengoo,
however, had two rather singular additions. Imme-
diately before the entrance of the hole there was
always a shallow, oval - shaped depression. The de-
pression, both in form and size, very much resembled
an ordinary tea-spoon. The object of this construction
at first puzzled me ; but I afterwards was told by my
servants — those of them who sat up late — that these
oval depressions were used as a sort of concert-room.
At night, they said, each jheengoo came out of his hole
and seated himself in the depression, and there emitted
those chirruping sounds that had attracted my attention
the night that followed the first fall of the rains.

I cannot clearly remember whether or not I myself
ever saw the jheengoo seated in the depression. I
rather think that I did ; but I also think that it was
not at night, but in the afternoon.

The purpose of the other addition I never ascertained,
nor, indeed, can I conjecture. It is a small hole. It is
situated a few inches from the principal hole, and
always to one side and more or less behind. It descends
straight down to the main hole, and joins it at about
a depth of six inches below the surface of the ground.
G

82 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

It is too near the entrance of the main hole to serve
as a means of escape in case of danger. And yet what
other purpose it can serve I cannot imagine.

Of all the crickets the jheengoo is the most amusing
to watch. When his hole is completed he sits most
of the day at the entrance, his head only just within it,
and there he sits gazing out at the sky and garden.
He is not the least shy or timid, and remains quite
undisturbed if I or the servants approach him. He
has a great, round face, and it always seemed to me
to wear an expression of such smiling good - temper
that in the end I got quite fond of him. Of course
this was only fancy on my part, for the faces of
insects are mere horny masks, incapable of any ex-
pression whatever.

Notwithstanding, however, his amiable appearance,
the jheengoo is an unsociable creature, leading a solitary
existence. So, indeed, so far as I observed, did the
other varieties of his species, with the exception of
the small black crickets. I found that each of the
holes of these I opened contained quite a little com-
munity.

The lukharee, like the jheengoo, passes a good deal
of his time sitting at the entrance of his hole ; but
he does not pass it in the same calm, contemplative
manner. He is always on the alert, and will spring
forward, if anything attracts him, with a suddenness
and to a distance quite surprising, almost startling.
Of this the other morning I had an example.

I was walking along one of the garden paths, when
I passed a lukharee's hole. The lukharee himself was

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 83

seated at the entrance. I stopped to look at him ;
he showed neither fear nor surprise at my presence,
remaining as motionless as if in a trance. Presently,
as I remained looking, a spider approached. He came
on slowly, walking most leisurely. His course took
him towards the hole of the lukharee. The spider
had arrived within a few inches of the hole, and was
proceeding past it, when the lukharee without warning,
without any previous movement, made a spring forward.
He alighted on the back of the spider, seized him, and
before I had time to interfere had vanished with him
back into the recesses of his hole.

In this case the distance that the lukharee sprang
was but small ; it was the suddenness and rapidity of
his movements that excited my surprise. The sudden-
ness of the attack appeared also to paralyze the spider,
for though he was the larger insect of the two, he made,
so far as I could perceive, absolutely no resistance.

About this time I made many excavations. One of
them resulted in a most interesting discovery. I was
walking one afternoon along the path that leads to
the terrace. Towards the end of the path I happened
to notice a small hole in the surface. Something about
the hole, I do not remember what, excited my curiosity.
I had the hole dug up. It was not long ; at the depth
of some six or eight inches it terminated in a hollow
space, and in this hollow space, closely huddled together,
were four large toads.

The sight of these toads caused me great astonish-
ment, and suggested many speculations.

And first, How had the toads managed to enter the

84 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

hollow? There wns no passage that led to it except
the hole I had dug up, and this was far too small for
the toads to pass through.

Then next, How came the hollow there at all ? It
could not have been a natural cavity, for these raised
paths are all artificially constructed. They are formed
of loose earth heaped up, shaped, and allowed to settle ;
when finished they are therefore solid throughout. The
hollow must then have been the work of some animal,
but of what animal ? The toads could not have ex-
cavated it, for they are unable to dig, or even to burrow,
except in the softest mud. At the same time, the
hollow did not resemble that of any small burrowing
animal that I was acquainted with, and the size of the
hole showed that the animal, whatever it was, must
have been of the smallest dimensions. The hole would
barely have afforded entrance to a field-mouse.

The only explanation that suggested itself to me
was the following ; namely, that the hollow must have
been originally much smaller ; that it was abandoned
by the animal that constructed it ; that the toads then,
when very diminutive, took possession of it and there
remained growing till too large to pass out again
through the hole ; and, finally, that their further growth
enlarged the hollow by pressing back the soft earth
that immediately surrounded them.

The appearance of the hollow gave some colour to
this explanation, for in its shape it very much resembled
the figure that the toads presented as they lay huddled
together. Indeed, in some places, it almost gave the
impression of a cast of their bodies taken in earth.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 85

Whether or no the toads could have been capable
of exerting such pressure I cannot say, but, supposing
them capable, still a further difficulty remained : the
toads could not have grown and increased in size
without food, but, thus entombed in the earth, what
possible food could they have obtained ?

The beerbhootees are now fast disappearing. The
popular belief is that they burrow beneath the surface
of the soil, and there remain till the rains of the next
year recall them again to the upper world. In the
course of my present excavations I have made dis-
coveries which, to some extent, confirm the correctness
of this belief. In digging out the holes of various
insects I have constantly found beerbhootees in the
earth which was dug out. Some of those found were
of full size, as large as peas ; but the greater number
were mere specks, not exceeding in dimension the head
of the smallest pin, so small, in fact, that but for
their brilliant colouring they would have been quite
undistinguishable.

They were found usually at a depth of from one
to two feet below the surface. It seemed to me almost
impossible that such small, soft, and feeble insects could
have dug their way to such a distance into the soil. I
was, therefore, rather inclined to believe that these beer-
bhootees must have descended through the holes of
some of the numerous insects. As I could not deter-
mine this point by observation of the ground, I had
recourse to experiment. The point I desired to
ascertain was, whether or no the beerbhootees were
capable of burrowing.

86 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

My experiment was very simple. I had a large
nand (earthenware pan) placed in the verandah, and
then filled with earth nearly to the brim. I was careful
to select earth of the same description as that in which
I had found the beerbhootees. I then had two beer-
bhootees that we had dug up placed on the surface of
the earth in the nand. They were both fair-sized
specimens, about as large as peas.

The beerbhootees were no sooner on the earth than
they commenced to burrow, but very slowly. They
burrowed so slowly that by the end of half an hour
they had not quite concealed themselves below the
surface. I allowed three days to elapse, and then
I had the earth very carefully removed from the surface
to ascertain to what depth the beerbhootees had bur-
rowed. I found that they had burrowed several inches.
About eleven days later I made a further examination.
The beerbhootees were found at the bottom of the
nand. The depth of earth that they had burrowed
through was between two and three feet. As I did not
know how long they had been at the bottom when we
discovered them there, I could not determine the exact
time it had taken them to descend this distance.

I repeated the experiment two or three times on
other beerbhootees ; the results were generally the
same. I ascertained from these experiments that the
beerbhootees are able to burrow through the ordinary
soil ; also that they do not in their burrowing excavate
holes or tunnels, but merely work their way through
the sandy earth. This fact suggested another inquiry.
The beerbhootees on which the first experiment was

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 87

tried remained for a full fortnight beneath the soil.
Owing to their manner of burrowing, during the whole
of this period the earth must have closely surrounded
them. This being so, how then did they obtain air
to breathe or food to sustain them .'' Yet when found
they exhibited no sign of having suffered from the
want of either. They were just as plump and as active
as they had been when first placed in the nand.

As the beerbhootees always appear after the first
fall of rain, I resolved to ascertain if wetting the
surface of earth into which they had burrowed would
recall them again to the surface. For this experiment
I selected very sandy earth, and earth which was also
perfectly dry. I allowed sufficient time to elapse for
the beerbhootees to have descended for a distance of
a foot or more. I then had the surface of the earth
thoroughly wetted, but no beerbhootees reappeared.

It is the general rule in nature that animals and
insects that dwell in darkness are dull -coloured. To
this rule the beerbhootee is a striking exception. It
passes all but a few days of its whole existence in the
most absolute darkness, and yet no living creature, bird,
insect, or animal, has colouring of a more brilliant hue.

I have described the effect of the commencement
of the rains on animated nature, of the millions and
millions of creatures that the first shower calls forth
to life and activity. The effect on the vegetable world
is even more striking. But a few days have passed
since that first shower descended. The country then,
save for the trees and shrubs, had much the aspect
of a desert. Everywhere it was bare, arid, and desti-

88 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

tute of herbage, almost as the Sahara. It is now one
sheet of verdure.

But particular instances will make the change more
fully to be realized. There was one piece of ground
in the compound which, without any exaggeration, was
as absolutely bare, dry, and hard as the high-road. On
this piece of land I several times made excavations,
and although I looked carefully, I could never detect
in the soil that was upturned the slightest appearance
of either roots of grass or seeds of any description ;
but in the course of no more than three days after
the first fall of rain the surface of this piece of land
was covered with a thick crop of grass. The grass
was of a deep rich green, and its average height, which
I took much pains in measuring, was no less than three
inches.

But I think the growth of the young bamboo shoots
which now appear is even still more marvellous ; one
can almost see them grow. Certainly the difference
in their height from one day to another is quite plainly
noticeable. The point of the bamboo stems is exceed-
ingly hard and sharp ; and this and their rapid growth
caused them, so I have been assured, to be used occa-
sionally in former days, under native rule, as instruments
for the execution of criminals condemned to death by
impalement. The victim was securely fastened to a
stake in a sitting posture. The stake was fixed by the
side of a just appearing stem of bamboo. As the
stem grew the body of the victim became transfixed.
A death of more lingering agony is hardly to be
conceived.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAINS 89

I may add that in one instance, under the native
rule, the bamboo was utiHzed in a manner equally
singular, but quite unconnected with cruelty. The
town of Rampore, the capital of the little native state
of that name, in the province of Rohilcund, was fortified
by one of its former rajahs, not with ramparts and
bastions of earth or stone, but by a thick circle of
living bamboo-trees. Though a good deal dilapidated,
this curious fortification still exists. I have never
myself seen it, but I have been told by those who have
that originally, before the trees were allowed to decay,
the ring of bamboos must have formed a wall nearly
absolutely impenetrable, one in which even the heaviest
artillery could have hardly effected a breach. The
ring was very wide, and narrow passages ran through
it. From these the garrison could pour a destructive
fire on the enemy, while themselves concealed and in
perfect security. I do not, however, know whether the
value of this mode of fortification was ever tested by
actual attack.

CHAPTER VI.
THE RAINS

SOME days have now gone by since that fall of
rain which ushered in the present rainy season,
but as yet we have had no further showers. The heat
in consequence has become again oppressive. At the
same time, that profusion of insect life and insect
activity which that first rain called forth has to a
great extent disappeared.

The crickets still chirp all night as before, and as
soon as darkness comes on the flying bugs are as
troublesome as ever ; but the swarms of insects that
displayed themselves by day have mostly vanished,
and I no longer notice, as then, little mounds thrown
up everywhere by those that burrow beneath the soil.

The ants, however, show no diminution in either
numbers or energy. Many of their communities are
engaged in farming fresh colonies. I came this morn-
ing on one such colony that was in the process of
establishment. The colonists were ants of the bur-
tunga variety. The new nest was situated not far
from the edge of the upper terrace. The late rain
had here washed away a small portion of the bank, so
that, instead of a smooth slant to the terrace below,

90

THE RAINS 91

there was now a very rough and almost precipitous
descent. But, steep and rough as the descent was,
nevertheless many hundreds of the ants were racing
up and down it with apparently the greatest facility.

At the bottom of the descent was a small heap of
what seemed very diminutive shrivelled raisins. These
the ants were bringing up and conveying away into the
nest. I remained for some time and watched them.
The sight was very interesting. Each ant as he issued
from the nest ran down the descent with quite headlong
speed. Arrived at the bottom, he made a rush to the
heap, seized with his jaws one of the little raisin-Hke
bodies, and then tore up the broken bank quite as fast
as he had come down it, and, it seemed to me, with not
the least more effort.

Agile as the ants were, still occasionally they got
a tumble. Some particle of loose earth slipped, and
then away they went rolling over and over to the
terrace below. These tumbles, however, seemed not in
the least to discompose them. Without the delay of
a moment, they recommenced the ascent just as rapidly
as before, and so far as I could observe they never
in the course of their tumble once lost hold of their
burdens.

After watching the ants for some little while, I
became curious to ascertain what these little raisin-like
things they were carrying up in reality were. For
this purpose I descended to the lower terrace to more
nearly inspect them. I found they were the pupae, or
undeveloped young ants, still enclosed each in its
chrysalis. The ants must have carried these pupse out

92 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

of the parent nest, and here deposited them, ready for
conveyance into their new domicile, a conveyance they
were now effecting. It was rapidly completed, for a
day or two after, when I again visited the spot, the
entire heap of the pupae had been removed, and no
doubt safely deposited in the recesses of the new
nest.

These burtunga ants dig with almost as much
rapidity as they run and climb ; at least, so I conclude
from the following incident. Soon after I had dis-
covered this new colony, in the course of my strolls
about the compound I came on another. It must have
been a little longer established, or the number of the
colonists must have been greater, for there were far
more ants swarming about it. The ants, when I came
up, were in the act of re-entering the nest, I suppose
after foraging or roaming over the trees.

I remained looking on till the ants had all entered
the nest, and then the idea occurred to me of digging
out the entrance hole and discovering how far below
the surface the actual nest was situated. The process
had to be most slowly and carefully conducted, other-
wise we might lose the trace of the hole, or come
unexpectedly on the nest and injure the ants.

The process was so tedious that when we had traced
the hole to a depth of some fourteen inches I gave
it up. There was no knowing how much further we
might not have to dig, and the sun was already
becoming most unpleasantly hot. I accordingly had
the earth we had dug out shovelled back, and I myself
retired to the house. I had the earth shovelled back

THE RAINS 93

lest rain should fall, in which case, had the hole remained
open, the nest would have been flooded.

In the afternoon just before sunset I visited the nest
again. I wished to see if the ants had managed to
open a passage through the earth that had been filled
in. I felt a little remorseful lest by my proceedings
in the morning I should have condemned them to a
night's imprisonment, and thus prevented them from
making their usual afternoon's foraging expeditions.
On reaching the nest I was pleased to find that my
fears were groundless. The ants had not only opened
one passage through the filled-in earth, but they had
opened no less than four, and not only opened these
four passages, but also had used them. When I arrived
the ants had just returned from foraging or wandering
over the trees, and the rear guard were engaged in
closing the entrance holes with the usual pellets.

It was the morning after this that I witnessed
accidentally another burrowing operation. But the
burro wer in this case was an animal of quite another
description and species.

I was strolling along a raised path of the garden.
At one place as I passed I noticed a little stream of
sandy earth rolling down the steep, slanting side of the
path. I stopped to look. Almost immediately another
small stream of earth rolled down, following the first.
I looked closer, and perceived that the earth came from
a small, round hole not many inches below the top of
the side. I then recognized that some little animal was
excavating a burrow, and was now engaged in pushing
out through the hole the earth he had dug. I remained

94 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

to watch his further proceedings. A minute or two
passed, and then another small stream of earth issued
from the hole and commenced to trickle down the side
of the path, while behind the earth, and pushing it
forward, appeared the point of a little black nose.

At short intervals the performance continued to be
repeated, and each time as the earth was pushed
forward the small nose was protruded further and
further. At length, as the result of an unusually
vigorous push, not only the entire nose, but also the
greater part of the head it belonged to, appeared dis-
played. I now perceived that the little excavator was
a garden rat, and that he belonged to that variety
of garden rat which is long and slender, and is also,
so far as a rat can be so, pretty both in form and
colour.

This last push appeared to have disposed of all that
remained of the earth which the rat had collected, for,
though I waited for some time, no more earth issued.
I presumed that the rat had gone on to the end of the
burrow to dig away some more. As the morning was
advancing, I did not care to wait for his return. I
retired to the house, and there I endeavoured to solve
a problem that rather puzzled me.

Rats dig with their fore feet, and so, of course, did
this rat ; but then he shovelled out the earth with his
nose. He must therefore have turned himself round in
his hole. The puzzle to me was how he managed to do
so, for rat-holes never appear larger than just sufficient
for the rat to pass through them.

The proceedings of this rat also suggested another

THE RAINS 95

question, which somehow had never previously occurred
to me. The holes or burrows of these garden rats
extend for great distances ; some that I opened were,
windings included, fully seventy or eighty feet long.
Now, rats do not, like moles, throw up mounds of earth
at intervals as they continue their excavations ; all the
earth that they bring out must therefore be brought
out by the entrance. There ought consequently to be
a very considerable heap of the earth at the entrance
of all these long burrows, but, as a matter of fact, except
v/here the entrance is on the side of a bank, there
is seldom, if ever, any accumulation of earth at all ; and
even when the entrance happens to be in the side of a
bank, the quantity of earth thrown out is but small.
What, then, becomes of the remainder ?

My explanation is that these rats do not, in the
ordinary sense of the word, really excavate. They
simply loosen the earth before them by digging ; and
through this loosened earth they manage to force their
bodies, leaving behind them a narrow tunnel. In the
course of time this tunnel becomes enlarged by the
constant passage of the rat, and at the same time its
inner surface becomes firm and hardened.

That a rat can form a burrow in this way, I know
from personal observation. In digging out a rat-hole,
it sometimes happened that the rat was within it, but
the exit not yet completed. The rat then, becoming
aware of our approach, dug a passage to the surface
and ran off. This new passage when we came to it,
though narrow, was a tunnel quite open and distinctly
marked.

96 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

At various times I dug open numerous rat-holes;
they all consisted of one single, but very winding,
tunnel. The tunnel, if finished, terminated in a single
exit. There were no side exits for escape in case
of danger nor any chambers for the occupants to lie
in or to form a nest for the young, nor did I find in
any of these holes or burrows any store of grain or
fragments of other food. The tunnels, though long and
winding, were never deep. Except where they passed
under a raised path, none of these tunnels were more
than six or at most seven inches below the surface.

We did not usually find the occupant at home, and
this I was glad of, as on two occasions his presence
resulted in a catastrophe. On the first occasion, as the
rat ran out of the exit, a servant happened to be stand-
ing near with a stick in his hand. To my regret, he
struck at the rat with his stick, hit and killed him. This
rat was a most unpleasant-looking creature; still he was
harmless and enjoying his life. I felt vexed that it
should have been thus needlessly put an end to.

The fate of the other rat excited more sympathy,
especially among the servants. His burrow was not
yet completed, but this we did not know. There was
no exit. He endeavoured to make one through a patch
of very loose, moist earth. The earth was so extremely
loose and wet that the poor rat became embedded in
it. When in digging we reached the spot, to our great
sorrow we found him suffocated. He belonged to the
long, slender, and elegant-looking variety, and was
prettier than usual, even for that variety. Perhaps for
that reason his end the more excited our pity.

THE RAINS 97

There are several varieties of garden rat. In my
compound I have found three ; one was the pretty
variety : the other two varieties, though they differed in
form and colour, were alike in the repulsiveness of their
aspect. I term these rats " garden rats " to distinguish
them from the jfield rats, which live away from human
habitations, in the open fields and waste places, and
which, besides, are quite different in their habits. The
garden rats are solitary ; the field rats live in com-
munities, and, like our rabbits, form warrens. They
usually select some piece of waste land, slightly
elevated. Here, in the evenings, they may be seen
sitting or scampering about in scores ; they are not the
least shy or timid. They will allow one to approach
within a few yards without exhibiting any appre-
hension ; on a nearer approach, they run into their
holes, but reappear immediately as soon as one
commences to retire. These field rats are very large,
and in appearance, of all the varieties of Indian rat,
they are the most disgusting. Their repulsive aspect
is increased by a tuft of coarse, wiry-looking hair at
the extremity of their tails.

These rats are a veritable plague to the cultivator
from the damage they do to the crops. In ordinary
seasons their numbers are kept down by the rains;
during the rainy season their burrows are flooded,
and their young destroyed in thousands ; but if the
rains are deficient, this fate they escape : their numbers
then increase to an extent that threatens a calamity.
The ingenuity of the villagers is taxed to the utmost
to find means to destroy them. These field rats,

98 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

though they are the largest by far of the Indian out-
of-door rats, by no means equal in size the great farm-
yard rats we have here in England, neither do I think
that they have the same fierceness of aspect.

Besides these various out-of-door rats, there are other
species that frequent the houses ; but I shall defer my
account of them to a later chapter.

More days have passed, and still the rain keeps off.
There are indications, however, that before long it will
again commence to fall. These indications as yet have
been rather disappointing. The clouds gather ; the
sky becomes obscured ; it seems as if every minute
the rain was about to descend in torrents ; and then,
just when our expectations are at their highest, the
clouds rise, separate ; the blue sky again appears ; and
we feel that, for another day at least, our hopes must be
deferred. But, as a compensation, the aspect of the
firmament is always pleasantly varied, and the sunset
tints are lovely.

It was one afternoon, at this time, that I sat on
the terrace. Although no rain had fallen here, the
appearance of the river showed that a vast amount
must have descended higher up the country, and
especially on the Himalaya. The whole of the river-
bed, which only quite lately had been, as I have
described, bare and arid as a desert, was now every-
where intersected with running streams. Many of the
sand banks were entirely submerged ; while the stream
immediately below the terrace, instead of a narrow,
half-stagnant line of water, now raced along, in itself a
broad, rapid river.

THE RAINS 99

All the afternoon the clouds had been gathering ;
they now formed a bank all along the eastern horizon,
a bank which reached high up, almost to the zenith.
The clouds were not, however, of the kind that
indicate rain, but those which spread themselves and
conceal the sky, as it were, like some vast, dark curtain.
The rise of the river had been followed by the appear-
ance of great flocks of water birds. Many scores of
these were now flying above the water and the sandy
beds that still remained ; they were circling round and
round and rising and descending in long sweeps and
curves. I sat and watched them.

Some of my servants were seated on the terrace
beside me, looking on, as I was, at the birds and the
river. They were talking quietly among themselves.
Presently one of them addressed me. He asked me
to notice the dark curtain of cloud, and how prettily
the white wings of the water birds, as they flew and
circled, contrasted against it. The natives, like children,
have but little appreciation of scenery as we under-
stand it ; they do not see much, if any, beauty in
extended landscapes, nor do they at all admire even
the grandest mountain views ; but they are very
sensitive to what I may term the smaller beauties of
nature, more so, perhaps, than are the majority of
Europeans.

I sat on the terrace till late in the evening. One of
the servants remained with me. As sunset approached,
the curtain of cloud lowered and faded away ; as
darkness came on, the stars shone out through the
clear atmosphere with surpassing splendour. We began

100 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

to talk about them. The constellations are not quite
the same as those we see in England : those that in
England lie far to the north are here invisible, while
we look on many that in England never rise above the
southern horizon.

Most conspicuous in the firmament appeared Orion.
High overhead it shone with a brilliancy hardly
conceivable to those who have only seen it in our
northern skies. It goes here of course by a different
name, and is represented, as are also many other of the
constellations, by a different figure. From Orion we
wandered off to gaze at and discuss other constella-
tions, and finally the Milky Way. It is styled by the
Hindoos the " Ganges of the heaven," but it is also
believed to be the road which leads to the palace of
Raja Indra, the king of the skies. It is along this road
that Raja Indra proceeds, seated on " Indraguj," his
elephant, when he repairs each night to hold court
in his palace and see the "thousand fairies" dance
before him. " Indraguj," far more magnificent than the
elephants of earth, is also further distinguished from
them by the possession of two trunks.

My servant being a Mahomedan, had of course no
faith in these fables, nor had he any more in my
information regarding the moons of Jupiter, the planet
Neptune, and the other discoveries of our European
astronomers. After listening for some time he made
a remark which, coming from one of his religion, a good
deal impressed me : " Your learned men say one thing,
ours say another; but, after all, who can say what
really exists up there ? " pointing as he spoke to the

THE RAINS 101

stars that were glistening in their countless thousands
above us.

Next day the long-expected rain at length descended.
The rain commenced at about four o'clock in the
afternoon and continued till past sunset. Being ac-
companied by a strong wind, it caused a much greater
fall in the temperature than had that former first
shower. It became so cold in the evening, that I not
only stopped the punkah, but also put on some of my
warm winter clothes.

This fall of rain was succeeded by many others. For
several days the sky remained thickly overcast with
clouds, and nearly every day more or less rain de-
scended. But these latter showers, falling in a still
atmosphere, had hardly any cooling influence. The
temperature ere long became very nearly as high as
it had been before the rains commenced ; owing to the
excessive dampness, it was even more oppressive.

Insects of all sorts now again appeared in profusion.
They were not, however, insects called to life by the
rain, but insects that had completed their various
transformations, and were now issuing forth in their
finally developed forms. Of the insects which thus
issued none came forth so suddenly and in such vast
multitudes as the white ants. Their coming forth is
a sight most curious. The other afternoon I had the
gratification of witnessing it.

I was walking along the path that leads from the
terrace ; on the side of this path, close by the mud wall
that forms the boundary of the compound, there ex-
tends a line of small, thorny trees. They are a species

102 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

of acacia, termed the " babool." By the side of one
of these trees, and rising in the air high above it, I
noticed a singular sort of haze. I approached nearer,
and the haze resolved itself into a cloud of small
winged insects. They were streaming forth from
several holes in the bark of the tree. As they came
forth the several streams of insects united and rose
together in the form of a column to the height of at
least thirty or forty feet There they spread out on all
sides and slowly descended, much as does the water
over the rim of a fountain basin.

Approaching still nearer, I noticed that the wings
of these insects were extremely narrow and enormously
long. Then I became aware that this cloud of insects
was a swarm of just-developed white ants, taking their
one brief and never-to-be-repeated flight.

They seemed to be in the utmost eagerness to
commence it. I went up to the tree ; I found them
crowding out of the holes in the bark with a hurry
that often impeded their progress. The holes were
small, hardly more than sufficient to afford exit to a
single white ant ; nevertheless not unfrequently two of
the little creatures would endeavour to pass through
together. As a result they would become jammed,
and it was only after much wriggling and struggling
that they managed to get disengaged and fly off.

The tree was partly dead, and where the ants were
issuing the bark was dry and withered, and in places
there were long cracks. I put my fingers into one of
these cracks and pulled ; a large piece of the bark came
off, disclosing the dead wood beneath. The surface of

THE RAINS 103

the wood was covered with a perfect network of narrow
grooves. The grooves all eventually terminated in
small, round holes that seemed to descend into the
interior of the tree. The grooves were now crowded
with young white ants in all stages of development.
In some the wings had not yet appeared ; in others they
were but half formed ; but multitudes had their wings
not only completely formed, but also unfolded. And
these ants were hurrying along the grooves to join the
flying throng outside.

I remained for some time watching the ants. So long
as I remained the ants continued to issue from the
tree in undiminished numbers. All as they issued
joined the ascending column, mounted high in the
air, and as they spread around and slowly descended,
they seemed to form a thin, delicate, living veil. As the
ants reached the ground they spread out their wings to
their utmost extent, and shook them violently. With
the shake the wings fell off, and then the little white
wingless creatures crawled away, either to return to the
nest, or to seek some place wherein to found a new one.

But, whatever their destination, I fancy that but few
reached it. Scores of birds, attracted by the sight of
the swarm, were sitting or hovering around. To them
and to other enemies, no doubt, the vast majority of
the ants would eventually fall victims.

The whole spectacle of this issue of the swarm was
very interesting, and as regarded the upward flight and
descent of the ants it was extremely pretty. It was a
spectacle also that gave rise to many reflections, some
of them a little melancholy.

104 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

How strange it seems that these millions and millions
of wings, with all their wonderful machinery of nerves
and muscles, should be thus elaborated merely to serve
the purpose of one single flight, and that of only a few
minutes' duration !

Then there is something sad in thus beholding how
little by nature life is regarded — such myriads of
creatures called into being only to be immediately
destroyed.

As I watched the wingless ants crawling away,
another speculation occurred to me. Such of these
little creatures as escaped the birds and their other
enemies would pass the rest of their existence in
tunnels and underground passages into which no
light can penetrate.

It was near sunset ; the canopy of clouds had risen
and dispersed ; sky, clouds, and landscape were all
glowing with rainbow tints. As I watched the crawling
ants I wondered whether in their future dark abodes
they would ever recall in memory the picture of that
glorious outer world they were now beholding.

In all my long residence in India this was the only
occasion on which I witnessed the issue of a swarm
of young white ants in the day-time and in the open
air. I have, however, several times witnessed their
issue in the house ; and then it is less agreeable.
One of these issues remains impressed on my memory ;
I will describe it.

The house I was then occupying was a bungalow,
and, as is the case with many bungalows, the inner
walls were constructed of merely sun-dried bricks, and

THE RAINS 105

in the recesses of one wall a colony of white ants had
established a nest. It was evening ; I was commencing
dinner. I heard behind me a buzzing sound ; I turned,
and from a hole near the bottom of the wall I beheld
a fountain of young white ants ascending. They
reached the ceiling, and then the descent commenced.
They alighted by thousands on the table, and there
shook off their wings. In a few minutes the cloth,
the plates, the glasses, even the lamp - shades, were
covered with the little white, feeble crawling creatures.
The fountain of ants continued to play for at least
ten minutes. When next morning the floor was swept,
the wings that the ants had shaken off filled a large
basket. What became of the ants themselves I cannot
say.

CHAPTER VII.

ALCHEMY

THIS morning I received a visit from one of the
native merchants in the city. Our conversation
happened to turn on alchemy, and then it diverged
to the kindred subjects of ghosts, magic, and hidden
treasures, regarding all which Orientals are firm be-
lievers. Belief in magic and ghosts does no great
harm, even a little good in a way, for it heightens the
interest in tales of the supernatural ; but faith in
alchemy and hidden treasures is very apt to lead to
ruin. The result comes thus about. A reputed
alchemist appears in a city ; he manages to get an
introduction to some man of means, a believer in his
science. The alchemist is plausible ; he gains the con-
fidence of his patron, and presently offers to show him
a proof of his skill. The patron provides a large
amount of silver ; it is conveyed away and buried in
some unfrequented place, the alchemist all the while
performing many incantations. The patron is then
directed to return after say twenty days and dig up
the deposit, and he will find that the silver has become
transmuted into gold ; but in the meantime neither
he nor anyone else is to come near the spot, or the

ALCHEMY 107

charm will be broken. It is almost needless to say
that when the twenty days have expired both silver
and alchemist have disappeared.

Some alchemists proceed in a more scientific manner.
They melt a lump of lead or copper in the presence of
their patron, and from it they do really appear to
extract a small lump of gold. Confidence in their
powers thus established, they obtain money from their
patron to almost any extent.

Some years ago, when in another district, I saw the
operation of extracting the gold performed in my
presence and also in that of the doctor of the station,
who attended to witness it. The performance took
place in the verandah of my house, the time being
before breakfast. The alchemist was a Mahomedan,
an elderly man, tall, and, like most Mahomedans,
possessing much dignity of manner. He brought
with him a variety of apparatus — a pair of small tongs,
several diminutive clay cups, and, what most excited
our curiosity, the life-sized model of a duck, very
roughly constructed of copper. The model was hollow,
and at the end of the beak there was a very small,
round hole.

The alchemist placed all these things on the floor of
the verandah ; then he requested that a " nand," a large,
deep earthenware pan, might be sent for, and also an
" angetee," or small, portable iron fireplace. The nand
was brought, and, at the alchemist's desire, was filled
with water fresh from the well, and a charcoal fire was
lighted in the "angetee." These preparations completed,
the alchemist produced from his waistband a small

io8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

lump of lead and some copper filings. These he
handed to us to examine, and then dropped them into
one of the little clay cups. He next took the small
tongs, and with them lifted the cup and placed it on
the charcoal fire, and beside it he also placed the copper
duck, and let it remain till it was thoroughly heated.
Then with the tongs he raised it and dropped it into
the nand of water. The heat of the fire had rarefied
the air within the duck ; the cold of the water now con-
densed it. A slight vacuum was the result, and the
water was forced in by the pressure of the atmosphere
through the small hole in the beak. When sufficient
water had entered, the duck was removed from the
nand and placed again on the fire, and we now com-
prehended its purpose. As the water boiled the steam
issued from the beak, and formed a very powerful blow-
pipe. In a short time, with the aid of a little borax as
a flux, the lead and copper were melted. During the
process of melting the alchemist kept dropping in at
short intervals various coloured powders.

The cup was now removed from the fire, plunged in
the cold water, and then handed to us for inspection.
The lead and copper filings had disappeared, and in
their place, snugly nestled at the bottom of the cup,
lay a small lump of yellow gold. It was really gold,
and very pure, for I afterwards had it tested. Of course
the lead and copper had been removed, and the gold
substituted, but so cleverly that neither I nor the doctor
had the least idea when or how the change had been
effected.

At the request of the alchemist, we now left the

ALCHEMY 109

verandah and entered a room that opened on it, and
there when we were seated the alchemist proceeded to
give us a further proof of his powers. He asked us to
mention any article we desired, and he would produce
it, even though it had to be summoned from London.
As we did not wish to spoil the performance by asking
impossibilities, we left the selection to himself. He then
rose, bared his arms to the elbow, extended them, the
hands open, but touching at the wrists. He remained in
this attitude for a minute or more, his face upturned,
and all the while muttering what we presumed were
incantations. Then of a sudden he jerked back his
arms and closed his hands, much as a cricketer does
when catching a ball. As he closed his hands we heard
a clink like that of coins ; he turned to us, opened his
hands, and we saw displayed within them five gold
mohurs.

As the gold mohurs had been so easily obtained,
I proposed that they should be expended in charity ;
but the alchemist was equal to the occasion. He in-
formed me that what I proposed was impossible : all
that was thus obtained from the spirits must be returned
to them, or calamity would ensue.

The money was returned much in the same manner
that it had been obtained. The alchemist replaced
the gold mohurs in his hands. He had, I should
mention, handed them to us for inspection. Then he
joined his hands, stretched out his arms, looked up-
wards, and muttered as before. In a minute he opened
his hands, turned them towards us, and they were
empty. Of course the whole was a conjuring trick, but

no HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I never saw one better performed. The room was very-
light ; the alchemist had his arms bared, as I have
said, to the elbows ; and both I and the doctor were
sitting close by and watching attentively, and yet we
neither of us perceived when or from where the coins
were produced, nor how or whither they vanished.

Alchemy, except for such-like professors of it, is not
a profitable pursuit. Still less so is treasure-seeking,
yet, like gambling, it possesses an extreme fascination.
Those who commence always continue. No experience
teaches ; no amount of failure disheartens. There is, of
course, always a possibility of success, for undoubtedly
a very great amount of gold and silver and coined
money does lie concealed in India, buried in the soil
or hidden away in buildings. But then the success
never arrives. Treasure is not unfrequently found, but
seldom, if ever, by those who are looking for it. In
all the instances that I have known or heard of where
treasure has been found, it has always been come upon
quite accidentally. The amount found is not either
generally large, but to this rule history records one
striking exception. When, near two centuries ago,
Nadir Shah plundered Delhi, he found concealed in
a vault in the palace no less than fifty millions of silver
rupees. This vast treasure had been there stored away
no one knew when or by whom, and its existence was
entirely forgotten.

According to native belief, however, a far greater
treasure remains somewhere in the country still un-
discovered. This is the treasure which, according to
tradition, the Emperor Alumgire concealed before

ALCHEMY III

setting off for his ill-omened expedition to the Deccan.
From that expedition the Emperor never returned.
After years passed in the unsuccessful efforts to crush
the rising power of the Mahrattas there in the Deccan,
the Emperor died, and died, so the tradition asserts,
without confiding to anyone the secret of where his
treasure was concealed. So wherever that place may
be, there the treasure still remains. To find the spot is
the object of every searcher, and many have wasted
their lives and means in the attempt.

Having said so much on treasure-seeking and
alchemy, I should like to add a few words regarding
ghosts and magic. But the subjects are too comprehen-
sive to be here in this chapter discussed. I will return
instead to the insects and animals, and describe now
some of those that inhabit the house, for hitherto
I have discoursed chiefly of those that live in the
garden. The most conspicuous of these house animals
are the lizards. They are not pretty creatures. Indeed,
to a European newly arrived in the country their
appearance is decidedly unpleasant. Their colour is
a dull mud tint, and, with their thick, fleshy tails and
rather swollen bodies, they suggest something of the
toad. But this impression soon wears off. Before long
one gets quite to like the little creatures, and to take
an interest in watching their movements. They are
perfectly harmless, and not in the least troublesome.
They do not hide in the furniture, nor crawl over the
floor ; they confine themselves entirely to the walls
and ceilings.

During the day-time they move but little. They

112 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

remain for hours on the same spot, as fixed in attitude
as if they were plaster ornaments. As evening ap-
proaches they become more active ; they commence
to wander about catching flies and mosquitoes. Once
I watched a lizard so engaged. It was near sunset, and
in the rainy season. I was sitting in the drawing-room,
waiting till it should be cool enough for me to take my
evening drive. While thus sitting I happened to raise
my eyes, and saw a large grasshopper high up on the
wall. He was of the kind that fly as well as hop. He
had somehow entered the house and alighted on the
wall. He was there sitting perfectly motionless. On
the same wall, about twenty feet distant, and equally
motionless, I also noticed a lizard.

In a minute or so, as I continued looking, the lizard
commenced to move, at first very slowly, then slightly
faster. Next he broke into a run, and ran with con-
siderable rapidity for about ten feet in the direction
of the grasshopper. He now stopped, and remained
motionless again for some minutes ; then he re-
commenced his advance, but now with extreme
slowness and many pauses, much in the manner that
a cat moves when stalking a bird. The head of the
grasshopper was turned in the opposite direction. He
did not consequently see the lizard, nor did he ap-
parently seem to be the least aware of his approach.

In about ten minutes, always coming on in the same
stealthy manner, the lizard had arrived within the
distance of a foot from the grasshopper. Here he
paused, then made a dart forward ; the long tongue was
shot out, drawn back, and the poor grasshopper had

ALCHEMY 113

vanished. The movement was so rapid that my eye
could not distinctly follow it.

The lizards walk on the ceilings as easily as they do
on the walls ; but I do not think that they can run on
the ceilings with quite the same rapidity. It is not very
easy to understand how they can run on the ceilings at
all. The lizards adhere to the walls and ceilings, so we
are told, by the pressure of the atmosphere, they having
the power to create small vacuums by drawing up the
skin of their bodies and feet, and so forming hollows
between themselves and the surfaces. But then how
can these hollows be formed, closed, and re-formed with
sufficient rapidity to enable the lizard to run and yet to
hold on ?

Occasionally the lizard does not succeed in doing so ;
he sometimes falls back from wall and ceiling, and when
he does the result is generally a disaster. A great flop
is heard as the lizard alights on the hard cemented floor,
and on approaching one finds that the body and the
tail have parted company ; the tail has broken off at the
root, and lies wriggling on the floor, while the lizard runs
off and mounts the wall again apparently quite uncon-
cerned. The tail appears almost as if endowed with an
independent vitality. It will continue wriggling for a
very long period, and even when it has ceased to move
it will recommence its wriggling if stimulated by a
touch.

The loss of his tail is to the lizard only a temporary
deprivation : a new tail is developed. I have never
watched the development in the same lizard ; I cannot,
therefore, say how long a period it occupies, but I

114 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

imagine that the process is a slow one. I have, how-
ever, seen in different lizards the new tail in every stage
of its growth. In its earliest stage the new tail has much
the appearance of a thorn growing protruding from the
end of the body. This thorn gradually thickens and
lengthens into a stump. In process of time the stump
lengthens into a tail. I do not think that the new tail
ever attains to quite the length of the original tail, nor
in form is it so symmetrical ; and, moreover, there is
always a mark like a ridge or scar at its base, indicating
the spot where it has been protruded from the body.
Sometimes, though rarely, the new tail is double. This,
I imagine, is the result of an accident: the new tail when
first protruded has somehow got notched or split, and
each half has developed independently.

As regards this renewal of the tails of the lizards, a
curious question arises, and one which I am quite unable
to answer. The lizards vary greatly in size: the ordinary
house lizard is not usually — I speak from memory —
more than from six to nine inches in length, tail in-
cluded, while the rock lizard of the Himalaya attains
almost to the dimensions of a small alligator. I have
seen some more than a yard long, and of proportionate
girth. Now, do these great lizards also possess the
power of renewing their tails ? And if they do not, then
at what degree of size does the power of renewal cease ?
For between these giants and the diminutive house
lizards there are lizards of every degree of magnitude.

The lizards, as a rule, have no beauty : the house
lizard is ugly ; the great rock lizard is hideous. But one
variety of lizard is really pretty. Its beauty, however.

ALCHEMY 115

is less the result of its form than of its colouring, which
is the freshest and brightest green.

Next to the lizards, the flies and mosquitoes are the
living things most en evidence in an Indian house ; but
both are too well known to require description. The
fly in no way differs from the fly of Europe ; nor, except
that he is smaller and more venomous, is the mosquito,
to the unscientific eye, to be distinguished from our
ordinary English gnat. The flies by care can be pretty
well excluded, excepting during the rains, when it is
pleasant to have the outer doors left open. But the
mosquitoes are irrepressible. During the day they are
mostly quiescent ; also, being semi-aquatic animals,
they confine themselves chiefly to the bathing-rooms,
where there is always a supply of water. As sunset
approaches they awake to activity, and commence to
wander abroad. The first indication of their awakening
is a low humming sound. The sound itself is not un-
melodious ; it is unpleasant, however, in its associations;
also in its indications, for it shows that the armies of
these little torments are assembling and will shortly
appear.

There are two other insects always present in Indian
houses ; but one is rarely, the other never, seen. The
first is a species of book-worm, the other a variety of
beetle. The book-worm, as his name imports, bores
holes through books and papers. The appellation to
him of " worm " is, however, very misleading, for in
shape, in colour, and in the glistening aspect of his skin,
he bears the most singular resemblance to a most
diminutive fish. The resemblance is so strikinf? that

ii6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

among Europeans the little creature is always spoken of
as the " fish insect."

The beetle confines his attention to woodwork, mostly
to the doors and door fi-ames. Into these, and also
occasionally into chairs and tables, he bores little
circular holes. As he bores he pushes out his borings ;
a tiny heap of wood dust on the floor below indicates
his presence : but for this it would be almost impossible
to discover where he is at work. As he bores, his jaws,
scraping away the wood, give out a rasping sound.
The sound is not loud, but in the midday stillness it is
very distinctly audible.

The puzzle is to discover from whence it proceeds, for
as soon as one rises and moves about to ascertain the
beetle discontinues his labours, and the sound is no
longer heard. I was once over half an hour engaged in
such a search ; in the end I only discovered the place by
noticing the slight heap of wood dust on the floor at the
foot of one of the door posts. Looking carefully up-
wards along the door post, I found the small, round hole
from which the dust had fallen. A drop of oil caused
the little workman to appear. I found him to be about
half an inch in length, very slender, quite black in
colour, and in shape very much resembling a narrow
cylinder. I examined him through my magnifying-glass,
but the glass was not sufficiently powerful to display his
jaws clearly, nor consequently to enable me to ascertain
how his boring of the wood was effected.

There are other dwellers in the house that do not
either often display themselves. The most numerous
are the bats and the rats. I shall discourse on the

ALCHEMY 117

bats later on. The rats I have already partly discussed ;
I will now add a few more words. The rats reside in
the thatched roof, and there they have their nests
and bring up their families. They descend at night
in search of food ; but they do not much enter the
rooms of the house, and in the day - time they are
only occasionally seen. They are not, therefore, a
cause of annoyance, unless food is kept on shelves
in the pantry. Then the rats burrow in the walls,
unless they are constructed of masonry, and become
a veritable nuisance.

The rats usually descend from the roof by means
of the verandah pillars, but I have known them
attempt other ways. Once I happened to enter my
sleeping-room in the afternoon, and there, to my sur-
prise, I found a rat seated calmly on the top of the
punkah. There was a hole in the canvas ceiling ;
through this he had passed, and then climbed down
the punkah rope. The punkah prevented his further
progress, for it was too high above the floor for him
to leap, and he did not seem to like reascending
the rope.

The house rat, unlike the garden rat, is an excellent
climber. Indeed, he ascends a tree with almost the
rapidity of the squirrel, but without any of the squirrel's
ease and grace. He never leaps, like the squirrel, from
bough to bough, and as he runs up the trunk he
appears to cling to the bark, as if always in fear lest
he should fall. Sometimes a rat will wander through

o

the house, as it were, for mere amusement ; and if he
finds anyone lying asleep, he will display an inclination

ii8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

to partake of liim. I had once experience of this. I had
returned from my early mornin^^ ride, and being a little
tired, I lay down, and presently fell half asleep. While
thus lying I felt something very soft touch my foot.
The touch was repeated, and then followed a sharp
prick. I started up, and just in time to see a rat
dart through the doorway.

A rat will sometimes take a fancy to some particular
part of the house, and there remain, not permanently,
but as long as the fancy takes him. Once, when I was
at another station, a rat thus took a fancy to pass his
day in my bathing-room. He dug no holes, he did
no harm ; he simply passed his time behind one of the
doors, which was usually turned against the wall.
Every evening about sunset he went away ; some
time in the course of the morning he returned. I was
so touched at his confidence that I would not have him
molested. After a month he ceased to appear.

But any account of the house rat would be incom-
plete without some notice of that horrible variety
termed, from the odour that accompanies it, the musk-
rat. This rat fortunately does not make its residence
in the houses, and indeed it only occasionally enters
them, and then as a rule by night. I do not know
whether after all it is a true rat. In appearance it
more resembles a very small, nearly hairless ferret. It
is of a drab colour, and has that half-transparent look
noticeable in young mice and unfledged chickens.
Its presence is manifested by a squeaking cry, accom-
panied by an intolerably sickly odour, something
resembling musk. The odour is so penetrating that,

ALCHEMY

119

according to the European popular belief, it will pass
through the glass of a bottle, and flavour the liquor
within. The fact is correct, but not the explanation.
Beer and wine are certainly occasionally flavoured by
these rats running among the bottles that contain
them ; but the odour penetrates not through the
bottle, but through the cork. The musk-rat is said by
the natives to be blind, like our mole. I do not know
if this is really the case, but certainly when running
through a house these rats never leave the margin
of the walls.

The house rats that reside in the thatch sometimes
find unpleasant fellow-tenants in the shape of wild cats.
These are not the real wild cats, but the ordinary cats
that have got tired of domesticity, and have taken to
finding their own living in the fields. In a house that
I once occupied a lady and gentleman cat of this
description took up their residence in the thatched
roof, and there they reared a family. When the fancy
took them they made a meal off" the rats. At night,
when lying awake, I often heard the chases. There
would be a scamper, then a spring and a scream,
and I was aware that a rat had been captured, and
was now being devoured.

On one occasion the kittens, when about half grown,
somehow found their way at midnight into the dining-
room. The noise they made awoke me. I called for
the servants ; lights were brought, and the kittens found
crouched together in a corner. Small as they were,
they displayed the most marvellous activity and the
ferocity also of so many young tigers. They ran up

120 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the doors ; they flew at the servants. It was only
after much trouble and with the aid of long sticks
that they were driven out into the garden.

Besides these permanent occupants of our Indian
houses, we are occasionally favoured with the presence
of mere temporary visitors. The most objectionable
of these are the snakes and the scorpions. Fortunately
the visits of both are extremely rare. In the whole
long course of my Indian experience I never but
once discovered a snake in my house, and that once
was in the Himalaya. The house, as is there usual,
had a boarded floor; below the flooring there was a
hollow space, and at its bottom was the uneven, rocky
surface of the mountain. Through a hole in one of the
boards I saw the head of a most singular animal appear;
it resembled the head of no creature that I had ever
seen or heard of. It rose higher, and the mystery was
solved. It was a snake, holding in his jaws a frog he
had just captured. Seeing a servant approach, the
snake retired, and to prevent his reappearance I had the
hole in the flooring securely stopped up.

I never found a snake in any of the many houses
I occupied at different times in the plains, but 1 once
discovered one at an outhouse close adjoining. The
snake was not inside the building, but affixed in a
most extraordinary manner to the exterior of the
entrance door. The door, a very rough one, was
fastened by a chain and padlock, and hanging wrig-
gling from the padlock I saw, to my astonishment,
a small snake. The snake had somehow climbed to
the padlock, and had thrust his head through between

ALCHEMY 121

it and the staple. He had thrust his head through, but
was unable to withdraw it or to advance his body
further. I called the servants ; they ran up, declared
the snake to be of the most venomous description,
and at once killed it. Whether the snake was really
venomous I cannot say ; very probably it was, but
the natives describe every snake they see to be such,
even the most harmless. How the snake managed
to reach the padlock was a mystery I never solved.

Scorpions are more common in houses than snakes,
but they are rarely seen. They conceal themselves
under boxes or hide in crevices. It sometimes, however,
happens that they wander over the floor, and then
should one of the servants, who all go barefooted,
happen to tread on them, a tragedy may ensue. Such
once occurred, but long ago, in my presence. It was
evening ; I was at dinner. One of the servants while
passing round the table fell suddenly as if he had
been shot. The others ran to his assistance, and raised
him. It was found that he had trodden on a scorpion,
and that the creature had stung him. The man was
in great agony. I proposed to send for the doctor,
but he preferred the native remedy of the "jhar,"
which consists in a series of something like mesmeric
passes. I had no faith in the remedy ; nevertheless
it proved efficacious. The man presently felt easier.
After the passes had been continued for something
over an hour the man rose, walked about, and assured
me that the pain had entirely left him.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE RAINS CONTINUED

THE rains continued till the end of August. Some
few days were pleasant enough. As the rain fell
the wind blew, and passing through the falling water,
it diffused an agreeable coolness, while the clouds above
subdued the glare. On such days I could sit by the
open window, read, and gaze out on the garden with
much tranquil enjoyment. But days of this description
were exceptional. Between the showers there were often
long intervals of most oppressive heat, and when again
the rain fell, descending through a motionless atmos-
phere, it brought no coolness ; it only added to the heat
an intolerable dampness. So saturated often was the
air with moisture, that clothes seemed to adhere to
one's person ; paper felt damp to the touch ; and every
article of leather — boots, shoes, the binding of books,
trunks, and harness — if not continually wiped, became
encrusted with mould. And yet the thermometer
showed that the temperature was in reality always from
three to four degrees lower than it had been during the
much less oppressive heat of the preceding period of
the hot winds. The damp heat, so enervating to us,
seems to have an invisoratine effect on the insects.

THE RAINS 123

The white ants are busy day and night in erecting their
long covered galleries over the floors and walls, and
at no period of the year are the flies and mosquitoes
more annoyingly active. The palm for energy must
I think, however, be conceded to the dragonflies.
These little creatures have lately appeared ; they ap-
peared suddenly and in multitudes innumerable. As
I look out on the garden the whole air seems filled with
them, but they cause no annoyance ; they never enter
the house nor even the verandahs, and they do no
damage to the trees or plants in the garden. They
pass their time in flitting to and fro through the
atmosphere, and this they seem to do the livelong
day without a moment's intermission. I have never
noticed any of them to alight either on the ground
or on trees. At night they depart, and, I presume,
settle somewhere, but where I am not able to say.
Indeed, to be quite truthful, I have as yet not made
much effort to ascertain.

These Indian dragonflies are larger than our dragon-
flies in England, but they are not so graceful either in
form or movement; they do not dart forward with quite
the same rapidity, nor do they stop and reverse their
flight quite so instantaneously. Still they are very in-
teresting to watch. Unlike most other flying insects,
these dragonflies appear perfectly indifferent to rain.
When a shower comes on, the other insects that may be
flitting and hovering in the air at once disappear ; they
seek shelter from the falling raindrops among the
plants and trees, or uwder the roof of some house or
shed. But unless the rain descends in a perfect deluge,

124 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the dragonflies appear to regard it with entire in-
difiference : they fly about and dart backwards and
forwards just the same as before.

It was some time early in the month of August that
I received a visit from a small party of animals of a
larger size, animals of a kind that do not usually
much exhibit themselves when the sun is above the
horizon. It was one of those agreeable days of the
rainy season that I have above described. It happened
also to be a holiday in the office, so that I was able to
remain at home and enjoy it. It had been raining, but
the rain had ceased, and a pleasant coolness pervaded
the air, and there was just sufficient cloud to soften
and subdue the glare. I was sitting, half reclining, in
an arm-chair before the open doors. It was just noon.
The servants were all in their huts or lying stretched
on the floor in the entrance-room taking their midday
sleep. In house and compound all was silence and
repose.

I had been reading, but I had laid down the book,
and gazing out on the garden, I had fallen half into a
day-dream. Looking accidentally towards one of the
lower terraces, I thought that I perceived some object
moving. I aroused myself, looked more attentively,
and perceived a jackal creeping cautiously out from
among a clump of bushes. A second jackal followed,
and after him a third and a fourth. They stood still
for a minute, all the while looking carefully around ;
and then, I suppose, being satisfied that no danger
threatened, they began to move towards the end of the
terrace. At the end of the terrace was the poultry-

THE RAINS 125

house, and to this they directed their steps. Now I
understood the object of their visit : they had come
to plunder or to reconnoitre.

Having reached the poultry-house, they walked round
it. It was most interesting to watch them, for, as I
was sitting within the house, they were unaware of my
presence. They moved very slowly, and with extreme
caution, looking constantly around to make sure there
was no danger ; moving thus along, they made the
complete circuit of the poultry-house, as they did so
narrowly inspecting it ; then they descended to the
next terrace below, struck into a narrow footpath, and
trotted away down to the river. Either, I presume,
they had discovered that the poultry-house could not
be entered, or else they had arranged their plan of
attack, and intended to return after nightfall and put
it into execution.

The jackals are nocturnal animals, though not
entirely such ; they do occasionally wander abroad
in the day-time, but then they usually wander singly,
and confine their wanderings to the ravines and to the
margins of the rivers. Except on this occasion, I
never saw a party of jackals abroad during the day-
time, nor did I ever see even a solitary jackal venture
during the day-time into the compound of an inhabited
house, or, indeed, into a station at all.

At night the jackals hunt and move about in packs,
but I am not quite sure whether they always live in
communities ; they do sometimes, for I have twice
come across what I may term their warrens. They
were both situated on slightly elevated spots, sur-

126 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

rounded by waste land, and, curiously enough, both
the warrens were almost immediately adjoining high-
roads. I came on one of these warrens when w^alking
in the evening, a little after sunset. No full-grow^n
jackals were visible, but a number of young jackals,
quite puppies, were frisking about outside. I had with
me a little spaniel; he seemed to recognize in the young
jackals creatures of his own kind, for he immediately
ran to them and joined in their gambols. I was in
terror lest they should bite him, but my apprehensions
were groundless. They played with him most amicably,
and so much did he enjoy their society that I had
much trouble in getting him to leave them and follow
me home. He brought with him evidence of their
companionship in their terrible odour. It was only
after a most elaborate ablution with soap and hot
water that it was possible to allow him to enter the
house.

The smell of a jackal resembles that of a fox, but
it is more powerful and more offensive ; it diffuses
itself through the atmosphere to a surprising distance.
The four jackals, whose visit I have above described,
never approached nearer to the house than at least
sixty yards, yet before they left their scent had
become wafted through the air to where I sat inside at
the open window, and was for some time most un-
pleasantly perceptible.

The odour of the jackal is not his only objectionable
quality. His cry at night is very distracting ; it is
especially so at this season of the year, when the bed-
room doors are always left more or less open. Heard

THE RAINS 127

at a distance, the cry is not altogether unpleasant : it
has a weird, melancholy cadence, even slightly melo-
dious, but on nearer approach the melancholy, wailing
cry changes to a sharp, yelping bark of intolerable
discord ; it suggests almost the idea of a legion of
fiends. As with the frogs, the amount and loudness
of the clamour is out of all proportion to the number
of the animals. These packs do not usually consist
of more than five or six jackals. To judge by the
noise, one would suppose them scores.

According to native belief, each pack of jackals has
its chief or leader, and their cry is interpreted into
a conversation between the chief and his followers.
The chief calls out, " Soopna men raja hooa " (" I am
the king in the night," literally " in the sleep-time ") ;
and then the other jackals reply, " Hooa! hooa! hooa!"
("You are! you are! you are!"). With a little imagin-
ing, the cry, if not heard too near, does really appear
to fit the words.

Slowly, wearily, with its damp, exhausting heat, the
month of August passed away. Towards its termina-
tion some indications appeared of the approaching
advent of the cold weather. The first indication was
not altogether agreeable : it consisted in the torpidity
of the flies. In this condition they were terrible: the
waving of the fan was powerless to drive them away,
and when they alighted on the hands or face the
sensation of their damp, clammy bodies was something
to excite a shudder even in recollection; but the annoy-
ance did not long continue. Each day the flies were
fewer ; in the course of a week or ten days they had

128 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

entirely disappeared ; and soon after the early mornings
became perceptibly cooler, and the coolness was of that
fresh, invigorating kind, quite free from damp, and
which is not caused by wind.

The earliest of these mornings I find noted in my
diary was that of the 2nd of September. The same
day was also signalized by the discovery of a new
insect, not exactly an insect, but the chrysalis in which
some insect was enclosed. The servants had found it
in the garden, and, struck by its beauty, had brought
it in to me for inspection. It was unusually large, and
certainly, as far as colour went, it was a most beautiful
object. Its surface resembled that of silver tissue, and
had all the same lovely iridescent tints. I had it care-
fully placed on the mantel-piece in the drawing-room,
and I visited it constantly, in the hope that I might
be present when the insect within should make its
appearance. My desire was gratified, and sooner than
I had expected, for the event occurred on the second
afternoon. I had returned from the office, and gone
at once to the mantel-piece. The surface of the
chrysalis appeared to be undulating, as if there was
some movement going on within. As I looked the
movement increased. Presently the chrysalis cracked,
and split open from end to end, and with much effort
and many painful struggles a butterfly dragged itself
out. To my regret, as the chrysalis cracked its beauty
vanished. From a silky tissue, glowing with colour, it
changed to a dull white, dingy-looking film.

I am sorry to say that my diary contains no descrip-
tion of the butterfly that emerged. To the best of my

THE RAINS 129

recollection, however, it was a butterfly of very ordinary
appearance, in no way remarkable, either for size or
colouring. Yet it must have belonged to some rather
rare species, for none of my servants had ever seen or
heard of a similar chrysalis, nor did I ever meet with
such another one again.

Of all the months of the year September is regarded
by both natives, as well as Europeans, as the most
unhealthy. The atmosphere is cloudless, and the long-
continued rains have cleared it from all impurities.
The sun's rays consequently shine through it unim-
peded by mist or dust. So intense and brilliant are
they, that, according to the native saying, they scorch
the skins of even the wild deer black. They also
draw out from the stagnant pools and the decaying
vegetation all those unwholesome exhalations that give
rise to fevers. It is during this month, therefore, that
fevers are especially prevalent. Nevertheless to those
who escape the fevers the month is very agreeable, that
is in contrast to the months that have immediately
preceded it. Each day the mornings become cooler.
I can saunter longer in the garden after returning from
my early ride, and I can then sit without inconvenience
in the verandah till it is time to bathe and dress for
breakfast.

As I sit and look out on the garden, let me describe
it a little more in detail. All Indian gardens, whether
native or European, are laid out on one uniform plan.
The plan has been dictated by the necessities of the
climate. In India cultivation depends on irrigation,
and in a garden the water must be supplied to the
K

130 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

different parts according as they may require it. The
simplest way of effecting this is to divide the garden
by means of raised earthen paths, crossing each other
at right angles, into a series of square or oblong beds.
The water is drawn up from the well by bullocks, and
flows, as it is wanted, from one bed to another through
earthenware pipes, which cross under the paths at their
base.

This method of laying out a garden is extremely
convenient ; indeed, it is necessary ; but at the same
time it is to a European taste not at all picturesque.
It imparts to the garden an unpleasant aspect of stiff-
ness and monotony. Each bed and path is very much
the reflection of all the others. In the case of my
present garden, the monotony and formality are a
good deal relieved by the succession of terraces and
the view of the river beyond. The garden has been
so long neglected that the beds are almost entirely
destitute of flowers, or, indeed, of any vegetation. This
bareness of the beds causes the straight lines of the
raised paths to stand out with unpleasant distinctness.
To some extent they suggest the idea of geometrical
diagrams.

Although the garden has few or no flowers, properly
so called, it has, scattered about it, several flowering
shrubs, and, better still, a really beautiful line of a
flowering tree termed by the natives the " babool."
This line of babool trees extends the entire length of
one side of the compound. Before it is a very broad
raised earthen path, and it is this path which leads to
the terrace overlookingf the river of which I have

THE RAINS 131

already made mention. The babool is a species of
acacia. It is a tree of no great size, hardly, if at all,
exceeding that of our apple tree, nor can it boast of
much beauty ; its foliage is scanty, and much inter-
spersed with thorns ; and it has a dry, parched aspect,
such as would befit it for the neighbourhood of a
desert.

The attraction of the tree consists in its flowers ;
these it bears in profusion. The flowers are extremely
pretty, though in shape peculiar. Each flower consists
of a multitude of slender spikes, all radiating from
a common centre ; they form a little ball about the
size of a small cherry. The especial charm of the
flower is its colour and its scent ; its colour is the
richest golden yellow, and its perfume is hardly sur-
passed by even that of the rose. These flowers now
cover the babool-trees in such thousands that, as I
stroll along the path, the whole air is laden with their
scent.

In singular contrast to the delicious odour of the
flower is that of the sap of the tree from which the
flower is produced : this is to the last degree offensive.
A branch of the tree lopped off or broken off by the
wind and left to lie on the ground will in a day or
two exhale an odour hardly to be distinguished from
that of the most putrid carrion.

There is another and much larger tree in the com-
pound which also, like the babool, exhales a scent, but
one less agreeable. This tree is the neem. It is what I
may term a forest tree, about the size of our English
elm. The scent does not proceed from the flower, but

132 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

from the leaf ; and then, fortunately, it is only exhaled
when the leaves have been thoroughly wetted by a long-
continued fall of rain succeeding a period of dry
weather. I say fortunately because then, where the
tree is abundant, as it is about here, the atmosphere
over leagues and leagues of country is suffused with
a faint odour of onions.

The leaf of the neem tree is remarkable, not only for
the odour which it exhales, but also for its small size
and its curious resemblance to the native saw ; it is
similarly curved and similarly notched : so exact is the
resemblance that, according to native belief, it was from
observing the neem leaf that the original carpenters
were led to the invention of the saw.

The neem leaves when dried have an odour some-
thing resembling senna ; it is an odour which insects
of all kinds dislike extremely. These dried leaves are
consequently very much used to spread over shawls and
to place in valuable manuscripts to preserve them from
moths and book-worms.

I will conclude this account of the scents of the
neem and the babool with a few words about that
queen of perfumes attar of roses. The rose from
which it is made grows about here in great perfection.
It is an ugly, ragged-looking rose ; but the scent is un-
equalled. It is always spoken of by the natives as the
" rose of the country " ; but I am not sure whether it is
really indigenous to India or if it was introduced by the
Mogul emperors from Persia. But whether the rose
is indigenous to India or not, it was in India that the
secret was discovered of extracting from it the attar.

THE RAINS 133

According to popular belief the discovery was made
by the celebrated Noor Jehan, the favourite wife of the
Emperor Jehangire ; but the Emperor himself in his
memoirs attributes the discovery, not to Noor Jehan,
but to her mother. Although discovered and first made
in India, the best attar of roses is now brought from
Busrah, in the Persian Gulf. It is brought in small
silver flasks of much the shape of a pear and about
the size of a small walnut. The mouth of the neck
of the flask is securely soldered ; but so powerful is the
perfume that it escapes through the silver of the flask.
When in India I procured at different times three
of these flasks. Two of them I have still ; one was
lost in the Mutiny. When I procured the flasks they
were completely filled with the attar ; they are now,
and have been for years, quite empty. The soldering
at the necks of the flasks is as perfect as ever, but the
attar has exhaled through the silver of the flasks them-
selves. The flasks have been kept in a silver box lined
with sandalwood ; they were put among letters and
various small curiosities. Although the attar has
evaporated from the flasks, it remains as strong as
ever among the letters and curiosities and the sandal-
wood of the box itself. The sandalwood, however, has
imparted to the perfume of the attar a flavour rather
oppressive, to our English tastes at least ; for it is one
which the natives of India greatly admire, and which
they much prefer to that of the attar alone. The attar
of roses, with which on occasions of ceremony they
perfume themselves and their garments, is always
mingled with a scent obtained from sandalwood.

13+ HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I may add that these Httle flasks of Busrah attar
of roses are extremely expensive, and on that account
are found only in the houses of the very wealthiest
natives.

The month of September passed away quite un-
eventfully, but pleasantly enough ; I took my rides
and drives morning and evening. I sauntered in the
garden, sat in the verandah, and spent the rest of the
day in the office. Each morning seemed cooler, and
soon even the midday heat appeared slightly less
oppressive. Early in October the cold weather arrived.
I could dispense with the punkah in the day-time, and
at night I found a blanket on the bed very agreeable.
To anyone suddenly transported from England, or
even from the Himalaya, the temperature would, no
doubt, have seemed sufficiently warm ; but to us who
had passed through so many months of exhausting
heat the climate was altogether delicious. In the
mornings and afternoons, as I sit in the verandah and
look out on the blue sky, I feel enjoyment in the mere
sensation of existence.

The flies, the dragonflies, and most of the other
insects have departed, but the air is not tenantless.
Scores, I may almost say hundreds, of birds — hawks,
kites, and vultures — are wheeling and floating through-
out it. Projected against the deep blue firmament, for
ever circling slowly round and round, ascending and
descending in long spiral curves, they form a most
beautiful spectacle. The vultures fly the highest, and
their flight is of all the most graceful. They sweep
round and round in immense circles, at each successive

THE RAINS 135

circle ascending higher and higher, till at length they
are lost to view or can be discerned only as the faintest
specks. There is something even majestic in their
flight, it is so steady, so even, so apparently effortless.
The expanded wings hardly ever appear to move ; the
bird seems to ascend by its own mere volition.

The kites and hawks fly lower, and sweep round
in smaller circles, and their flight is less calm and even.
Every now and again, as I watch them, one will drop
like a stone, shoot along the surface of the ground
with the rapidity of an arrow, and then as quickly re-
ascend. The kite has discerned some food or prey ; he
has swooped down and seized it, and is now bearing it
aloft.

The sight of these birds is so keen, and their down-
ward dart so rapid, that it is unsafe to carry anything
eatable exposed where many of them are flying above.
Of this I once had an experience that might have
had a sad termination. It was in another station, and
one more to the eastward, and where the kites especially
abounded. One afternoon in the cold season I walked
out into the garden, carrying my little girl in my arms ;
she was holding a crust of bread in her hand. One
of the servants immediately ran after me, and pointing
to the kites hovering above, begged me to throw away
the bread or return at once to the house. He had
hardly finished speaking, when I heard a rushing sound,
felt a blow on my hat, and saw a large kite dart by
before me. The servant had waved his stick and
shouted ; the noise and waving of the stick caused
the kite to swerve, otherwise the child might have

136 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

been seriously hurt. As it was, the claw of the kite had
scratched her hand ; the blow on my hat was given
by his wing.

But besides the birds I have other objects of interest
to watch as I sit in the verandah. My compound, and
still more, the compounds adjoining abound in squirrels ;
and many of the little creatures pass a good deal of
their time about the outside of the house and in the
verandahs. Never being molested, they gambol about
without apprehension. They climb the pillars and the
reed blinds, scamper along the floor, and when I am
taking my tea some of the bolder among them will
even venture on the table.

The Indian squirrel is smaller than our English
squirrel, and by no means so pretty. It has not the
same thick fur or bushy tail, and its colouring is poorer :
instead of the rich chestnut brown of our squirrel,
its fur is of a dull greyish white, varied by stripes of
black running the length of its body. On the other
hand, the Indian squirrels are far more numerous —
they are to be seen in hundreds on all the clusters of
trees — and I also think they are more active. They
dart up the trunks of the trees, spring from branch
to branch, and race each other to the highest summits,
and this with unbroken speed and apparently with-
out effort.

I have spoken already about scents and perfumes ;
I will now conclude this chapter with a few words on
the kindred subject of narcotics. I am led to do so
by an incident that occurred about this time in the
office. Not many miles from the station there resides

THE RAINS 137

a Hindoo zemeendar — that is, a landowner ; he is well
off, and, having little else to do, he spends a good deal
of his time about the different offices ; he generally
makes his appearance in mine two or three days in the
week. He stands in the court and listens to the cases,
and when tired of that he strolls outside and chats
with acquaintances. He is rather a favourite both
with me and the other English, for he behaved very
well in the Mutiny, and is besides amusingly eccentric,
both in speech and appearance. I may add also that
he is extremely stout.

On this particular day, though in the court, he was
not in his usual place, nor was his attendance voluntary.
He was standing with several others in the prisoners'
dock, and had been committed for trial on a charge
of affray. He and a neighbouring zemeendar each
claimed a piece of land, and they met on the spot with
their followers to decide the dispute in the ancient
manner with swords and " latees." The latee, I may
explain, is a long, solid bamboo, often bound and tipped
with iron, and in the hands of a man who can use
it a most formidable weapon. The case was rather
a serious one, for, though no one had been killed,
several of the combatants had been more or less
severely injured.

I was distressed to see my friend in such a position,
but he himself seemed quite unconcerned. His face
wore a drowsy expression, and he appeared to pay little
or no attention to the proceedings. I remarked on his
indifference, and saw a smile go round the court. Its
meaning was soon explained. When called on for his

138 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

defence, he was found to be incapable of making any.
He had drugged himself with some narcotic, and
though bodily present in the dock, his mind was far
away in the land of dreams. This, when the case was
over, led to a conversation. In the course of it I
acquired some further information on the subject of
Indian narcotics. What I know on the matter I will
now very briefly relate.

There are many varieties of these drugs. The most
aristocratic is opium. This, as most of my readers are
aware, is the juice of the cultivated poppy. In India
it is both eaten and smoked, and when used in modera-
tion I do not know that it does any particular harm.
The stories of the delightful visions it creates are, I
believe, pretty much fiction. It produces an agreeable
tranquillity, and pleasantly, to some degree, stimulates
the imagination, but nothing more. When taken in
excess its effects are very deleterious : the appetite
fails ; the body becomes emaciated, as the natives ex-
press it, " dries up " ; loss of memory and of intellectual
power next follows, death sooner or later terminating a
period of most wretched existence. One of the earlier
effects of opium, when taken habitually and in excess,
is to impart to the eyes a peculiar dull, glassy brilliancy,
and by this a confirmed opium -smoker or eater can
generally be distinguished.

Next to opium, in the scale of respectability, comeS
the drug termed in India " bhung." This is the juice
of the wild hemp, and most of it is, I believe, procured
from the forests of the outer ranges of the Lower
Himalaya. Bhung is neither smoked nor eaten ; it is

THE RAINS 139

only drunk, and then largely diluted with water. Un-
like opium, instead of impairing, it increases the
appetite, and, so far from causing emaciation, its effect
is to produce corpulence. It was to his indulgence in
bhung that my friend the zemeendar, I was told, owed
his unusual plumpness.

It is also said to increase the breathing power of the
lungs under exertion ; and on this account it is much
consumed by athletes when in training, especially so by
the Brahmins at the various places of pilgrimage, for
these Brahmins, leading the idlest of lives, amuse them-
selves a good deal in wrestling, running races, and
other such-like exercises.

At the same time the drug utterly ruins the nerves.
The drinker of bhung, it is said, will start at a
shadow, and if a bird flies by him, will shrink in terror,
as from a missile thrown at him.

Two lower styles of drugs are " churrus " and " ganja."
I used to know their composition, but have forgotten it.
They are both horribly deleterious, and their use is
regarded as disreputable. They have the effect of
imparting a most offensive odour to the person and
to the breath of those who indulge in them.

There was in former times a horrible drug, often
mentioned in the histories, termed " poshtah." If
drunk daily, after no long time it caused idiocy. On
that account it was under the Mogul rule often forcibly
administered to state prisoners whom it was desired
to render harmless, especially to such as had been, or
might be, rival claimants to the throne. An affecting
story is related by the traveller Bernier in regard to one

140 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

of the nephews of the Emperor Alumgire. When
captured and condemned to imprisonment in the fort
of GwaHor, he threw himself at the Emperor's feet
and implored that he might be at once put to death
rather than be compelled to drink that terrible drug.

The greatest consumers of these narcotic drugs are
said to be the Hindoo fakirs. I have been told that,
when by long use other drugs have ceased to stimulate,
the fakirs have recourse to arsenic ; that in time also
loses its power, and then, if they can, they contrive to
get a cobra to bite them. So hardened, it is said, has
their system become, that the bite of this most
poisonous of snakes, which carries death to all other
creatures, produces in them only an agreeable drowsi-
ness. I hav^e been told this frequently, and by natives
of respectability, and who were themselves entirely
convinced of the truth of what they asserted. Whether
the statement is really correct I am unable to say.

I will conclude these remarks on narcotics by the
mention of a circumstance regarding the cultivation of
opium which has always puzzled me. The opium culti-
vation and sale is a Government monopoly. Of late
years the Government had been desirous of extending
the cultivation in these upper provinces. It is a cultiva-
tion in itself very profitable, and, in addition, especial
advantages were offered by the Government. Never-
theless, so strong were the objections to the cultivation
on the part of the Hindoos, that it was only with
extreme difficulty, and by the exercise of all its im-
mense influence, that the Government could succeed
in inducing them anywhere to undertake it.

THE RAINS 141

What the objection was I never could ascertain. It
was not in the least a moral one, for the same people
who objected to planting the poppies had no objection
whatever to eat the opium manufactured from their
juice. Nor was the objection the result of any caste
prejudice, for in other parts of the country opium has
been cultivated from time immemorial, and by Hindoos
of the same castes.

CHAPTER IX.
THE STATION

THE station is one of the oldest in Upper India.
It dates indeed from the time of Warren Hastings.
It was at first, and for long after, a mere military out-
post, advanced a hundred miles and more beyond our
then frontier. The houses, such at least as remain of
that period, were those of the officers. They are all
bungalows, not large, and surrounded by only very
moderate-sized compounds. Perhaps their occupants,
so far away removed from their fellow-countrymen,
found it pleasant to dwell near together.

I often try and picture the kind of life they led,
very tranquil, very calm, no doubt, but terribly mono-
tonous— few letters, fewer papers, rarely a traveller —
but a life nevertheless in after days perhaps not
unpleasant to look back to ; and then what a dim,
far-away country England must have appeared to
them !

At the commencement of the present century these
provinces passed under our English rule ; and the
station, as I have already mentioned, to some slight
extent became a seat of government. It was made
the headquarters of several of the chief civil depart-

142

THE STATION 143

ments. The high officials of that day drew immense
salaries, and kept up great establishments. Their
houses which they erected here were of correspond-
ing magnitude. In size they approach to palaces,
and they stand in grounds fully equal in extent to
the smaller of our English parks. Years go by,
and the station begins to decline in importance. One
by one the high officials are transferred elsewhere, and
of the houses they erected many are left vacant.

As the century grows older the intercourse with
England becomes more rapid and frequent ; and, as
a consequence, the tone of Indian society is more
influenced by that prevailing at home. One of the
results is the erection of the church. It is an ugly
building, designed by an Engineer officer in a style
meant to be classical.

A long, quiet period now ensues. Regiments and
officials come and go, but the station remains much
the same. Then occurs the Mutiny, The ruins of
the church are its memorial. A new church and lines
of barracks and stabling mark the restoration of order
and the increase of troops that accompanied it ; and,
as regards the new church, its appearance shows the im-
provement in architectural taste that had taken place
since the previous one was erected.

After this account of the station, I will say a few
words regarding my office. According to tradition, it
was originally a private residence, one of those left
vacant when the chief officials departed. The grounds
around it are extensive and dotted over with trees.
When the office is open, the grounds present a most

144 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

animated appearance. They are crowded with people,
many of them picturesquely attired. There are num-
bers of horses, bullocks, and ponies, besides palanquins
and those quaint little dome-shaped vehicles so bright
in colour, and so Oriental in aspect.

The office I will leave unnoticed, for, except that it
is more untidy, it does not much differ from an ordinary
house. Let us pass through to the vernacular record
room. This is a later erection, and bears testimony to
the powers for destruction of those little creatures the
white ants. To protect them from their ravages, the
records are tied up in bundles of cotton cloth, and
placed on broad stone shelves. Tier over tier of these
shelves extends round the walls up to the very ceiling.
But even this precaution does not always ensure
security. Occasionally, when a bundle is opened, a
portion of its contents is found converted by the
ants into a powdery earth.

To facilitate reference, the documents relating to
different subjects are tied up in bundles differently
coloured. The Indian dyes are brilliant; the shelves
in consequence have something of the gay appearance
of the beds of a flower-garden.

In India all official proceedings, even the most
triv'ial, are conducted in writing. Hence the rapidity
with which the records accumulate is something appal-
ling. During the Mutiny every scrap of paper that
this room contained was either burnt or thrown into
the river. Not so many years have since passed, and
yet the shelves are now again filled to overflowing.

The English records are kept in another room. Com-

THE STATION 145

pared with these, they are in amount insignificant
They consist merely of letters and tabulated statements.
They are bound up in large volumes, and, except to
anyone desirous of statistical information, are the very
driest of reading. The earlier records, those of the
years that followed the commencement of our rule,
were, on the contrary, often extremely interesting.
They were full of incident, and described occurrences
that threw so much light on the then condition of the
country and mode of life and habits of the English
of that long-past time. Unfortunately, except in a very
(ew districts, these early records were all destroyed in
the Mutiny.

Among the records that escaped were those of a
district where, not very long ago, I was stationed.
It was one of the eastern districts, the part of these
provinces where our rule had been earliest established.
The records extended far back into the last century.
Looking over them one day, I came, to my surprise,
on a paper drawn up by no less a person than Warren
Hastings. It was a printed narrative of his proceedings
towards the then Raja of Benares — proceedings which
were afterwards made one of the charges against him
on the occasion of his state trial. I was aware from
the histories that some such proceedings had occurred,
but I knew nothing of their details. I commenced to
read the narrative from mere curiosity ; but I soon
grew deeply interested. What had been a mere bare
historical statement now rose before me with all the life,
colour, and movement of a chapter of romance.

The narrative which so much interested me may
L

146 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

perhaps also prove interesting to my readers. I, there-
fore, give a brief summary of its contents. The
summary, I should mention, is drawn up from mere
recollection, and from the recollection of a perusal at
a time long gone by.

Warren Hastings, then Governor -General of India,
set out, so the narrative records, on a progress through
the western provinces of our then dominions. He
intended also to extend his progress to the adjacent
half-tributory territory of the Nawab of Oude, We may
infer that he moved with all the state and splendour
at that time regarded as befitting his high position, with
tents, horses, elephants, and an army of attendants.
He was also, as we learn from the narrative, accom-
panied by a strong military escort.

There were many political matters of high importance
to be arranged, and among others the affairs of the
Raja of Benares. The Raja had of late been occasion-
ing trouble, chiefly, if I remember correctly, by evading
the payment of his revenue, for, notwithstanding his
extensive domains and his royal sounding title, the
Raja was in reality no more than a tenant of our
Government. He held his lands by virtue of a lease
granted him by our Government, and he had engaged
to pay for them a certain rental. This is a point on
which the narrative strongly insists, but of which I
confess that till I perused it I was entirely unaware.

Warren Hastings left Calcutta, and in due course
arrived at Benares. He there halted his camp in
the neighbourhood of the city, and entered into com-
munications with the Raja. He hoped, it would seem.

THE STATION 147

that by this means the differences between the Raja
and our Government might be amicably arranged.
This expectation was not reaHzed. The Raja remained
unyielding, and Warren Hastings then decided to exert
authority. He issued an order to the commander of
his escort to march a force into the city, to arrest the
Raja and bring him back a prisoner to the camp.

It would appear that no resistance was anticipated
on the part of the Raja, and certainly no arrangements
were made to meet resistance should any be offered.
Only a small party of Sepoys were despatched, and,
what seems extraordinary, they were sent off with
unloaded muskets and, moreover, without any ammu-
nition to load them should the necessity for doing
so arise. Thus equipped, the party reached the palace.
They found the gates closed. The summons to open
them was answered by a fire of matchlocks from the
roof and the narrow windows. This fire the Sepoys,
with their unloaded muskets and without ammunition,
were, of course, unable to return. They had no course
but to retreat.

As the news spread the city rose, and then the
adjacent country. Matters appeared so serious that
Warren Hastings thought it prudent to hurriedly strike
his camp and to march away further to the west. He
proceeded for some distance along the banks of the
Ganges ; then he crossed the river and, with his escort
and attendants, took refuge in the old native fortress
of Chundalghurrie, or, as it is termed by us Europeans,
Chunar.

This fortress, since modernized, crowns the level

148 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

summit of a hill. The hill is of no great elevation,
but its sides are steep, and it rises abruptly from the
margin of the river, and this in those days rendered
its position a strong one. The hill forms the termi-
nation of a low range which stretches away to the
westward, and rising continually in altitude, unites
at length with the mountains of Central India.

Warren Hastings remained shut up in the fort of
Chunar till the arrival of a force sent from Calcutta
to relieve him ; and, from the slow manner in which
affairs in those days were conducted, this was not
till after the lapse of a considerable period. Mean-
while throughout all the adjacent country there was
much the same condition of things as in the present
century followed the breaking out of the Mutiny.
There were, to be sure, no massacres and but little
disorder, but everywhere in a similar manner the
British authority at once, as it were, disappeared.

As far as I remember, the narrative does not mention
the punishment awarded to the Raja of Benares. That,
perhaps, was a matter for later determination. I rather
think that eventually it was thought sufficient to impose
on him a heavy fine.

In reading the narrative two things particularly struck
me. The one was that Warren Hastings did not issue
his orders for the arrest of the Raja through any of his
secretaries. He wrote himself a letter to the com-
mander of his escort directing him to march down a
party of Sepoys, to arrest the Raja in his palace and
to return with him to the camp. In later times such
action on the part of one so exalted as the Governor-

THE STATION 149

General of India would have been regarded as very
unusual, even undignified.

The other matter that impressed me was this : when
the news of the disaster at Benares reached the Nawab
of Oude, instead of taking advantage of it to throw off
his allegiance to the English Government, he at once
collected his armies and set off to march to Chunar
to afford it assistance. The very different behaviour
of the population of Oude towards us during the
Mutiny certainly affords grounds for reflection.

I will follow this account of my office and its records
with a short description of the gaol, for that institution
is also, to some extent, under my authority. The gaol
is situated a little beyond the station. The building
is merely a large, square-walled enclosure. In the
centre of the side that faces the high - road is the
entrance gateway. It is a large, solid, very plain,
two-storied structure. To pass through it would hardly
repay one, for the interior contains only smaller en-
closures and a variety of long tiled sheds, in which
the prisoners sleep and work. There are, however,
besides, some smaller rooms for the accommodation of
guards, and for the confinement of prisoners who have
proved refractory ; but a visitor would be most struck
by the order and cleanliness everywhere apparent, and
the total absence of that oppressive gloom charac-
teristic of our prisons at home.

The gaol as a building has certainly no beauty; but
then it has been a good deal altered and added to. There
are other prisons built on the same plan that, in a way,
are really pretty. One I especially remember. It stood

ISO HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

alone on the open plain. At each of the four angles of
the wall was a quaint-looking little domed turret, which
served as a sentry-box. The gateway was surmounted
by a parapet, and the whole building, walls, gateway,
and turrets, was painted a cheerful yellow ; also the
head gaoler had planted rows of flowers, chiefly mari-
golds, before a portion of the front wall. Altogether
the edifice looked so gay, bright, and Oriental that
a picture of it might have served to illustrate an
Eastern tale as the castle or residence of some jin
or enchanter.

The inmates of our gaol are in harmony with their
surroundings. They are well fed and not overworked;
they look plump and contented. They spend most of
their time outside the prison in the open air, chiefly
working on the roads. So far as the position of a
prisoner can be agreeable, theirs is such. One thing
about them is very noticeable: their countenances rarely,
if ever, have that expression of brutality, ferocity, and
moral degradation that, according to description, is so
often found among our own criminal population. Indeed,
but for their prison dress, they are not in any way
distinguishable from ordinary labourers : they have the
same quiet manner and placid expression.

Nevertheless, they are at times capable of acts of
savage violence. In my time the guards were always
instructed never for an instant to lay aside their swords;
and I remember that one of the first lessons impressed
upon me when I was given partial charge of a prison
was that I should never, under any circumstances what-
ever, make the round of the wards unless accompanied

THE STATION 151

by a strong- armed guard of several men. The neglect
of these precautions led, even within my experience, to
many disasters, and once resulted in a sad tragedy ; but
this last occurred a little before my arrival in the
country.

A magistrate — I forget his name — visited his gaol
in the course of his morning drive. He entered one
of the wards escorted by only a single attendant, and
this attendant was unarmed. The prisoners, from some
reason, were discontented, and had planned an outbreak.
The appearance of the magistrate thus unprotected
seemed to offer them the opportunity. They surrounded
and killed him, beating in his skull — so I heard the
story — with the heavy brass pots they carried for the
purpose of drawing water. A circumstance added
pathos to the tragedy. The magistrate had driven to
the gaol accompanied by his wife. While he was
being thus murdered within, she, all unconscious, was
sitting in her carriage at the gateway quietly awaiting
his return.

From gaols to robbers the transition is easy. So I
will make it, and relate one or two stories that may
interest the reader. I should mention that they occurred
long ago, soon after my first arrival in the country.

In order to render the first story quite clear to the
English reader, I must make a short preliminary
explanation. Indian houses — I mean those of the
natives — have no outer windows, save those over the
entrance, or perhaps some small square aperture high
aloft. The rooms receive their light from the courtyard
within. The houses being thus constructed, thieves can

152 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

only effect an entrance by digging a hole through one
of the outer walls. This they do with a short, sharp-
pointed iron bar.

Now about the time I speak of a party of thieves had
thus one night broken into the house of a banker ; it
was, I think, in this very city. The thieves had collected
their plunder and were departing, when the banker
awoke, heard a noise, and ran down. He entered the
room just in time to see the last of the thieves crawling
out through the hole ; his legs were still inside. With
great presence of mind, the banker ran forward and
forced himself between them. The thief was now
caught : with his legs separated he could not get out,
and, with his arms and shoulders beyond the wall,
neither could he force himself back.

The banker summoned his servants and sent for the
police. Meanwhile he remained exultant : through this
thief the rest would be apprehended, and his property
recovered. But in this he was disappointed. So soon
as the other thieves found that their comrade was fixed
in the hole they took measures to prevent his betray-
ing them. They drew their swords, cut off his head,
and carried it off, together with their plunder. The
police on their arrival found only a bleeding neck
protruding from the hole, and a body that no one
could identify.

The next story, I think, is even more ghastly. I was
on a visit to my brother. He was the subordinate, or,
as it was then termed, the "joint," magistrate of a rather
wild district. A band of dacoits — that is, armed robbers
— had lately infested it. The band had been dispersed,

THE STATION 153

but the leader had escaped. A reward had been offered
for his apprehension, dead or ahve.

It was the hot weather. We were returning from our
evening drive ; darkness was just setting in. As the
carriage drew up at the house a man rushed forward.
By the light of the lamp that hung in the porch we
could see that he was a policeman, and that he held
something in his hand wrapped up in a cotton cloth.
My brother stepped out. The policeman drew aside
the cloth, and we saw a human head. The eyes were
open and staring, and the countenance all smeared over
with dried, clotted blood. It was the head of the
leader of the dacoits. He had been discovered, had
resisted, and been slain. His head had been sent in
as proof of his death, in order to claim- the reward.

Everyone has heard of the Thugs. I will add a story
about them. One of their haunts was the old city of
Canouje. Not far from the city there was a well ; it was
known as the well of the "Bhuttyarah," from having been
constructed by a man of that caste. A bhuttyarah,
I may explain, is the man who cooks food for travellers
in a caravanserai. The well was a very large one, and
lined with masonry ; it had long been disused, and was
half choked up. Some seventy years ago, when the
Government commenced to put down the Thugs, many
of them turned informers. One of these informers
pointed out this well as the place where the Thugs
about Canouje hid away the bodies of their victims.

I was once encamped near the well, and I heard the
finding of the bodies described by many persons who
were present when, in consequence of the informer's

154 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

statement, the well was searched. They told me that
the human remains were many yards in depth —
scattered bones, skulls, whole skeletons, and, at the
top of all, many bodies not yet altogether decomposed.

From robbers and Thugs it will be a relief to return
again to the insects and animals. I will first conclude
my remarks on snakes, and then I will say a few
words regarding the locusts.

Snakes, as I have mentioned, are but very rarely seen
near English houses ; nevertheless I once came on a
large collection, not, however, of snakes themselves, but
of their eggs. It was some years ago, and at another
station. One afternoon the servants came running in
to inform me that they had discovered a "bombay"
in the garden. This, they explained, was a place where
snakes of the same species collected together and de-
posited their eggs. I proceeded with them to the spot.
It was in a large, round flower-bed, not a hundred feet
from the front of the house. The eggs were lying all
near together, about sixty in number ; but whether they
were beneath the soil, or lying exposed on the surface,
or covered with leaves, I do not remember.

The eggs were nearly round in shape, a greyish white
in colour, and with shells almost as hard as stones.
They were not much larger than walnuts, and felt
quite cold to the touch. The servants declared that
they were the eggs of the cobra, but I do not think
that really they in the least knew.

The prettiest snake I ever saw was one that I came
suddenly on in an open space in a forest below
Mussoorie. It was very slender, not more than

THE STATION 155

eighteen inches in length, and in colour the very
brightest emerald green. It was so extremely pretty
that I wished to catch it ; but before we could make
arrangements for doing so the snake took alarm. It
darted into a clump of grass, and was lost to view.
The servants declared that it was a snake of the most
deadly kind ; possibly it may have been, but then the
natives say the same of nearly every snake.

One snake, however, they do admit to be harmless.
This is the "daman."' It is a snake most peculiar in
appearance : it seems to have no eyes nor any mouth,
and excepting that its skin is covered with scales, it
almost exactly resembles a gigantic worm. The natives
declare that it possesses two mouths, one at each
extremity of its body, and also that it has the faculty
of moving backwards and forwards with equal facility.

The " gerait," or, as it is termed by Europeans, the
" whip " snake, is really deadly, even more so, it is said,
than the cobra. It derives its English designation from
its extreme slenderness, which gives it very much the
appearance of the thong of a whip. I only once saw a
gerait, but when and where I do not recollect.

Those who have merely beheld snakes in confinement
can form no idea of the rapidity with which they can
move when at liberty and in their native haunts. I will
give an example. I was once descending a broad, bare
track that led down to a river ; on each side of the
track there were bushes and tall, coarse grass. Suddenly
a large snake shot out from the grass on my left ; it
crossed the track with the rapidity, so it seemed to me,
of a horse at full gallop. It moved so rapidly that

156 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

before I could well discern its figure it had disappeared
among the grass and bushes on the other side. As far
as I could judge, it must have been at least six feet in
length.

The villagers, who work all day in the fields, see
snakes of course far more frequently than do Euro-
peans, and they are certainly occasionally bitten by
them ; but the statements made of late in England
of the thousands of natives who perish from snake-
bites each year I regard with entire incredulity.

So much for the snakes. I will now speak of the
locusts. I ought to have done so earlier, for those I
am about to describe made their appearance soon after
my arrival at this station. I was in the office one day,
when I heard a shouting outside. I inquired the cause,
and learnt that a swarm of locusts had appeared, and
that the shouts arose from a mob of children who were
running after them.

I went at once into the verandah, and there, sure
enough, I beheld the locusts. They filled the air ; they
dimmed the light ; they quite hid the sun ; they flew
with a heavy, slow, undulating motion that gave to the
swarm as it passed something the appearance of dark,
falling snow. As they flew on thousands of them
continually alighted on the ground, on the trees, and
on the garden crops. The mob of children were busily
engaged in running about and catching them, all the
while shouting, " Tidhi ! tidhi!" the native name of the
locust. They were catching them for food, for the
natives eat the locusts, and regard them when fried
in oil as a delicacy. Some Europeans also eat them

THE STATION 157

curried, and I have heard their taste described as agree-
able ; I never, however, had the courage myself to test
the correctness of the statement.

The swarm passed by in about an hour. Notwith-
standing the myriads and myriads of locusts it con-
tained, I found that the swarm was regarded as no
more than a small one. It certainly by no means
occasioned the devastation which has often been
described as accompanying the passage of these
insects ; still there was a good deal of injury done to
the crops, more especially to those of the gardens.

The natives have an idea that the locusts are bred
in the Himalaya. The idea is, I believe, quite
erroneous ; still, according to my experience, flights
of locusts are more common among the lower ranges
of those mountains than in the plains. When seen
among those ranges their appearance even more
strikingly resembles that of dark - coloured, slowly
falling snow. Filling the valleys, obscuring the great
mountains, they impress the mind with an extreme
sense of gloom and of grandeur.

Towards the end of October it was full moon ; I
never remember moonlight more beautiful ; I used
often in the evenings to sit outside to enjoy it, there
was something so soothing, so delicious, in its soft,
mysterious glow. The air, besides, was in itself agree-
able, not exactly cold, but sufficiently cool to make
a shawl or an overcoat pleasant.

This mention of the moonlight reminds me of another
appearance peculiar to Eastern nights ; it is what I have
heard described as the " mirage of the dark." I first

158 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

witnessed it when crossing the desert of Suez on the
occasion of my first journey to India. We were a
small party, and crossed the desert riding on donkeys ;
we had ridden for many hours, and were all very tired
when night came on ; we had then still some miles
to travel. There was no moon, and, in the darkness, the
desert seemed full of shadows. Presently, as we
journeyed on, the shadows seemed to take shape and
assume the form of hills and gentle undulations ; next,
figures appeared passing by or approaching.

They were all such as I had seen during the day :
camels and men on horseback wearing turbans and
flowing robes, and carrying in their hands long lances ;
they were so distinct that at first I supposed them
to be real. It was only as they came near and vanished
that I perceived that they were illusions. Presently,
as I became more tired, I seemed to behold buildings
and lights. It was past midnight before we arrived
at the station ; there during supper we talked over
our journey, and I found that nearly all the party
had had much the same experience of the mirage
as myself.

On some few occasions I have witnessed the same
phenomena in India. The objects that I then appeared
to see were similarly those that I had beheld in the
day-time : carts drawn by bullocks, palanquins, men
in native dresses, and, perhaps, a string of camels or
an elephant ; also, when very tired, I thought that I
saw lights and houses. The conditions necessary to
give rise to the phenomena seem to be a dark night,
an open country, allowing an extended surface to be

THE STATION 159

indistinctly visible, and on the part of the beholder
extreme fatigue.

The ordinary day mirage is also sometimes to be
seen in India, but only during the hot weather, and
in a very bare, open tract of country. I myself have
only once beheld it ; its appearance then was not at
all striking. There was none of that beauty and
illusion of trees and buildings which, according to
description, accompanies the mirage as seen in the
deserts of Africa and Arabia ; there was only in the
distance what seemed a sheet of water, nothing more.

With the above description of the October moon-
light my diary for the time abruptly closes ; it
commences again after an interval of several months,
and then in a station further to the north, to which,
in the meantime, I had been transferred. The house
I now occupy is not, as before, on the bank of the river,
but then it has the compensating advantage of an
extremely large garden, and a garden, moreover, in
excellent order. The first entry in my diary of any
interest records my making the acquaintance of a
community of extremely small ants of the red variety;
but the particulars of this acquaintance I will relate
in the next chapter.

CHAPTER X.

WHITE ANTS

THIS morning — it was towards the end of Sep-
tember— on returning from my ride, I took a
stroll through the garden. Half-way down the central
path I came on a small mound of earth very much
resembling in appearance the crater of a volcano. The
mound in shape was circular, about four inches high
and eight inches in diameter, and in the centre there
was a saucer-like depression ; and in the centre again
of this depression there was a small hole. From this
hole a number of the minutest red-coloured ants were
coming out and returning. Each ant that came out
carried in his jaws a grain of sandy earth, deposited
it on the top of the mound, and then ran rapidly back
again into the hole.

Although the mound in itself was small, yet, com-
pared with the size of the ants, it was gigantic ; and
yet it must have all been constructed within the very
brief period of two, or at the most two and a half,
days. I made sure of this because during the third
day previous there had been a heavy fall of rain, and
if the mound had then existed the rain would certainly
have washed it away. However, not to rely on con-

i6o

WHITE ANTS i6i

jecture, I determined to ascertain by direct observation
the rate at which these little creatures could erect
their mound. For this purpose I had a small stake
driven into the path, to mark the position of the nest ;
and then I had the entire earth of the mound very
carefully removed. I took particular care that none
of the ants should be hurt, nor any of the earth get
swept into the hole, which, of course, was the entrance
to the nest. This done, I sent for a chair, and sat in
the shade of a tree to observe what would ensue.

In a minute or two the ants commenced to reappear.
Each ant, as before, carried in his jaws a minute pellet
of sandy earth. This he deposited on the ground, at
a distance of about six inches from the hole. Each
ant deposited his pellet in a different spot, but always
at the same distance from the hole ; and thus they
presently formed a small ring of pellets, that com-
pletely encircled the hole. They worked with such
diligence and speed, running out and racing back, that
while I sat and looked on the ring of pellets had
become as high and broad as a piece of cord ; and the
ring, I noticed, was a nearly exact circle.

The next morning the ring was considerably broader
and higher. By the fourth morning a new crater
appeared completed ; and this new crater was broader,
loftier, in all its dimensions very much exceeding in
magnitude the previous crater which I had removed.
And it is to be remembered that at this season of the
year the ants work outside their nests only during the
early hours of the morning, and for a shorter period
in the afternoon. This for them immense mound
M

i62 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

represented therefore the labour of little more than
one entire day.

The mound having reached this size, it ceased to be
added to. I presume that the subterranean galleries
which the ants were excavating were now finished, and
that consequently there was no more earth for them
to bring up. While the galleries were being excavated
it was, of course, necessary that the earth which was
dug away should be brought out ; but why it should
have been deposited round the entrance, in the form
of a circular mound, was a matter which remained to
me a puzzle to the last.

The mound, so far as I could see, was not only of
no use, but, on the contrary, it was a constant in-
convenience and a possible danger. If rain fell, it
would cause the nest to be flooded, and as it was the
mound formed an obstacle which every morning and
evening, when the ants went out to forage, they had
repeatedly to surmount. I made a rough calculation
that the mound was to these little ants what a steep
ridge sixty feet high would have been to an average-
sized man. Agile as the ants were, the crossing the
mound must have required some exertion. It also
entailed some little risk. The earth of the mound
was so loose and sandy, that it often gave way even
beneath their light tread. Then down they rolled to
the bottom ; and if returning with seed, the seed was
lost.

It was not very long after the completion of this
second crater that the commencement occurred of the
Hindoo month of Kuer, and, to the great delight of the

WHITE ANTS 163

natives, a shower of rain fell in the course of the after-
noon. Their delight was due to a belief that the rain
which falls on the first day of that month possesses
especial fertilizing influence on the soil. The clods of
earth which it moistens, according to popular belief,
never again grow dry. It is also believed that the
drops of this rain which fall in the ocean, should the
oysters receive them, form the pearls within their
shells.

The climate here is much moister than it was at my
previous station, and, as a consequence, the white ants
far more abound. They are very numerous in the
garden, and I have lately occupied my early mornings
a good deal in watching them. I was induced to do
so by coming unexpectedly the other morning on one
of their nests. The nest was below the ground, and
the ants were busily engaged in erecting one of their
great, conical-shaped mounds on the surface above it.
The ants were issuing in great numbers from several
holes in the path. The holes were all near together,
and round each hole the ants were erecting what I
may describe as a tower. These proceedings were
quite new to me. I sent for a chair, sat down, and
watched them with extreme interest. Two or three
of my servants remained standing beside me, but
neither my presence nor theirs appeared in the least
to disturb the ants ; indeed, they did not show any
indication that they were aware we were near them.

The towers had already been raised to the height
of six or seven inches ; they were from two to three
inches in diameter, and in shape very irregular circles ;

i64 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

their elevation was equally defective. Instead of rising
perpend icularl}', they curved from side to side like an
ill-constructed chimney. The walls were extremely
thin, not thicker than a sheet of ordinary drawing-
paper ; they were formed of very minute pellets of
earth, which the ants had evidently kneaded and
fashioned in the nest below. The pellets were not only
moist, but also slightly glutinous. The towers had
certainly been erected during the morning, for the
walls were still damp ; they had much the appearance
of moist brown paper.

Thin and damp as the walls were, they were, never-
theless, evidently very strong, for they supported the
weight of the numerous white ants that ran up and
down them without yielding or bending in the least.
The towers were all erected near together ; several even
touched, forming little groups, affording each other
mutual support. One of these groups, which consisted
of several towers, rested against the stem of a shrub
that grew on the side of the path.

The ants worked only inside the towers ; they worked
with extreme rapidity : they came running up the
nearly perpendicular wall at full speed, and without
apparently any effort. Each ant carried a pellet in his
jaws. On reaching the top of the wall he adjusted the
pellet very carefully ; next he seemed, I thought, to
lick it with his tongue ; and that done, he ran down
the wall again with the same rapidity that he had
ascended it.

The towers were sufficiently large to enable five or
six white ants to ascend and descend at the same time.

WHITE ANTS 165

The ants worked so fast that during the half-hour that
I sat watching them the towers had all risen in height
at least an inch. The ants must have continued thus
working the whole of the day and perhaps for some
part of the night as well, for when I visited the nest
the next morning the towers had all risen to the height
of two and three feet, and several of them had also
been arched over. In others the process of arching
over was just commerxing. I remained for a long time
and watched it. The process was most interesting to
observe, but owing to the extremely minute size of the
pellets, it was a process not easy to observe correctly.
So far as I could make out, the process was as follows :

The circumference of the tower was first reduced
by placing the pellets so that they overlapped a little
inwardly. The overlapping in each successive row was
so slight as to be hardly perceptible. But after several
rows of pellets had thus been laid the circumference
appeared decidedly smaller ; next the wall commenced
to bend over inwardly, and presently it became nearly
horizontal. The pellets were now clearly kept in
position by some glutinous substance, which caused
each successive pellet to adhere to the one against
which it was placed.

I noticed now that the white ants placed the pellets
in their positions with extreme care ; they also appeared
to moisten the pellets repeatedly with their tongues,
both before and after they were deposited. The
process of arching over was completed while I looked
on. The summit of the tower had now the appearance
of a very flat but very rough and uneven dome.

i66 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

For some reason or other, I did not visit the nest
again for two or three days, and then I found, to my
extreme regret, that the towers had all disappeared. I
had omitted to give orders for their preservation, and
the gardeners had swept them away as disfiguring the
path. It was an untoward event which I have always
since much deplored, for I never again saw these
towers in course of erection, and in consequence many
matters in regard to the use and mode of construction
of the great ant-hills of which they were the com-
mencement, and which I had hoped to ascertain, remain
for me still enigmas.

The white-ant hills when completed are tall, roughly
conical structures ; they are mostly from four to five
feet high, and have many very narrow but far pro-
truding buttresses. The earth of which they are com-
posed is extremely hard, so hard that it can only be
broken by a pickaxe, and even then with much
difficulty. When cut open they are found to be nearly
solid. They contain only some winding passages, and
a few large, hollow spaces, into which the passages lead.
The hollow towers that I saw in course of erection
must, therefore, be subsequently filled up, and also the
spaces between them. The use and purpose of these
mounds is to me a mystery, for the actual nest, so far
as my experience goes, is always beneath the surface
of the soil.

With this notice of the white ants my diary for a
time again closes. It recommences after a lapse of
nearly two years, and in a station still further to the
north, and within not much more than thirty miles of

WHITE ANTS 167

the outermost of the lower ranges of the Himalaya.
The climate is very much cooler than at my last station,
and it is also far more moist and damp. As a con-
sequence the white ants are proportionately more
numerous. They are so numerous that for some time
after my arrival they were the chief subjects of my
observation, and my diary for that period is almost
exclusively occupied with notices regarding them.
Such of these notices as appear to me to be sufficiently
interesting I will place before the reader.

On the 1 8th of August I dug up a white ants' nest.
It was situated near the edge of a bank ; the digging it
open was, therefore, comparatively easy. It contained
thirty chambers. Each was about the size and very
much the shape of a large sponge ; that is they
were round above, while their floors were flat with
a slight rising in the centre. They all communi-
cated by passages. The passages ran below from the
centre of one floor to the centre of the next. Some
few of the chambers, however, had second, but smaller,
passages. These second passages ran above. The
openings into them were in the centre of each roof.
The chambers were all tolerably near together, perhaps
from one to two feet apart, and they were mostly
situated on different levels. The uppermost chamber
was not more than twelve inches below the surface,
and the lowest about a yard.

Nearly all the chambers contained combs. Some
were fresh and full of eggs, pupa:, and young white
ants ; others were old, long disused, and dry. They
were so dry that on a slight touch they crumbled to

i68 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

powder. A few of the combs had crumbled away of
themselves, and formed a layer of dust on the floor
of the chamber. The fresh combs were most unpleasant-
looking objects. Both in colour and shape they almost
exactly resembled human skulls. Indeed, as they lay
about on the ground they might easily, at a little
distance, have been mistaken for such just disinterred
from a cemetery.

These combs consist of a multitude of large, flat cells
placed over each other in very irregular layers. Flat
shells the size of a shilling, and arranged in the shape
of a sponge, would give some idea of their construction.
The cells are formed of a material which has much the
appearance of brown paper. It is, I imagine, merely
earth kneaded together with the glutinous liquid which
the ants secrete from their mouths.

I had two of these fresh combs placed under the
shade of a tree, that I might further observe them.
In order to protect them from injury, I caused them
to be carefully covered with soft, dry earth. This
measure of precaution had, however, an unfortunate
result. Next morning, when the earth was removed,
the combs were found covered with a green fungus,
and their inhabitants, the young ants and pupse,
were all dead.

About a fortnight afterwards I dug up another nest,
and made a discovery, for in one of the combs we came
on the queen. At first sight she had the appearance
only of an enormous grub, some three inches long and
at least an inch and a half in circumference ; but on
closer inspection I perceived that this apparent grub

WHITE ANTS 169

was in reality merely the queen's abdomen. Affixed
to it in front were the body and head. These were
those of an ordinary white ant, only slightly larger.
The surface of the abdomen had a curious undulating
appearance. On examining it through a magnifying-
glass I found that this appearance was caused by the
alternate contraction and expansion of the different
rings of which the abdomen seemed to be composed.
The movement went on incessantly without a moment's
intermission. Its purpose, I concluded, was to expel
the eggs ; but although I watched for some time, I did
not perceive that any eggs were ejected.

When I had finished my observations, I placed the
queen again gently on the ground. In a few minutes
a number of white ants approached, and commenced
to crawl over her. As I could not determine whether
their intentions were friendly or hostile, I thought it
prudent to brush them away, and also to place the
queen in a place of security, for, if attacked, she
appeared quite incapable of defence. After some
consideration she was deposited in the hollow between
two empty combs ; there she lay as in a little cave,
and, to make her more secure, the combs were covered
with a small mound of fine earth.

In the afternoon, on my return from office, I went at
once to the mound to release the queen, and to restore
her to her nest. But when the earth was removed, and
the combs separated, to the astonishment of myself and
the servants, the queen was found to have disappeared,
where and how to the last remained a mystery, for the
earth of the mound showed no sign of having been

170 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

disturbed, and the queen herself appeared incapable
of movement.

The following week I opened a third white ants' nest.
In this nest there was a great number of fresh combs,
all full of eggs, pupce, and completely developed young
white ants. These young ants had their wings all ready
to be expanded, and seemed waiting for the moment
when they should make their exit from the nest, take
their one short flight, and have their one brief view
of the glories of the world above. I noticed that the
bodies of these young ants were of a milky whiteness
and appeared half transparent. The colour of the
adult ants is more of a yellowish brown, and their
bodies are quite opaque.

I had two or three of these fresh combs placed under
the shade of a tree for subsequent observation. Warned
by previous experience, I was careful to have no earth
put over them. On visiting the spot next morning I
found that each of the combs had been encased by the
adult white ants of the nest with a thick coating of
their own prepared earth. The inmates appeared alive
and vigorous, and the combs will, no doubt, become the
nucleus of a fresh community.

The number of white ants in this neighbourhood is
enormous. The whole country appears honeycombed
with their chambers and passages. They answer,
no doubt, some wise purpose in the economy of
nature, but what that purpose may be is not very
apparent. I thought at one time that the empty
chambers might serve in some degree as storehouses
for the rainwater, and so give moisture to the soil, but

WHITE ANTS 171

experience showed me that this idea was incorrect.
Out of the many chambers that I opened, I never
found one that contained water, or whose walls were
in the least degree damper than the ground elsewhere.

Not only are the ants more numerous here than
at my previous stations, but the mounds they throw up
are larger and loftier. Some of them just now present
a most picturesque appearance ; they are covered with
a fungus of a pretty green colour, and what with their
conical summits and wide flanking buttresses, they do
really very much resemble those steep, forest-covered
mountains that one sees represented in Chinese pictures
of their gardens and landscapes.

Small, soft, and feeble as the white ants are, yet
by their numbers and powers of destruction they have
influenced to some extent both the architecture and
also the civilization of the country. To their ravages,
which prevent much the use of timber, is in a great
measure due the massive solidity of the grander
Indian edifices, and by their devouring of papers and
documents they have restricted the cultivation of
literature ; they have rendered the preservation of
books difficult ; they have continuously destroyed the
records that would have thrown light on the history
of the past.

It is providential that the white ants do not attack
the living as they do the dead vegetation, for otherwise
they would soon reduce the country to a desert. They
do, however, occasionally attack and destroy both
plants and trees. They eat away the bark of the tree,
and then when the wood is dry they excavate their

172 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

chambers and galleries in the trunk. The plants they
appear to devour simply as food. On this matter I will
mention a curious circumstance. It was told me about
this time by a very respectable landowner. We were
talking about sugarcane. He informed me that the
large variety, termed by the natives the " poundah/'
had been introduced into this part of the country about
forty years previously by the English Government.
Then he added that on its first introduction it was
with the utmost difficulty the cane could be grown,
the white ants attacked it so systematically; but as
time passed their attacks grew less frequent, and after
a few years they entirely ceased.

My observations of the white ants were not very
prolonged, nor in the least scientific ; they have left
unsolved two problems. One, as I have already
mentioned, is the use and purpose of the tall conical
mounds which with such infinite labour these little
creatures erect ; the other is by what means the eggs
which the queen lays become deposited in the cells
of the combs. Either they must be conveyed to the
cells by the other ants, or else the queen must after all
be capable of movement. I will conclude my notices
of the white ants with the remark that in Upper India
they are not found at the height of more than four
thousand feet above the level of the sea.

The damp climate of this station, which so promotes
the increase of the white ants, is favourable also to the
development of another and more picturesque insect ;
this is the firefly. In most parts of these provinces the
fireflies are not often seen, but here they abound. They

WHITE ANTS 173

especially frequent a low-lying tract of ground not very
far from the entrance of .my compound. The other
evening they there afforded me a most interesting
spectacle. I was returning from my drive rather later
than usual ; there was no moon, and the short twilight
had faded away. This piece of land, which is over-
shadowed on one side by trees, was enveloped in dark-
ness ; but scattered everywhere in the darkness were
to be seen little specks of soft, bright moving light.
They were rising, falling, advancing, retreating, for an
instant vanishing, then again reappearing. The sight
was so pretty that, though it was late, I remained for
a long time quite interested in watching it.

The firefly is not the only flying insect that has the
power of emitting light. There is a species of beetle
that also possesses this faculty. I only once met with
it, and that was many years ago, and in a station much
lower down the country. I was sitting in the drawing-
room one evening during the rainy season, when I
noticed a small dot of light moving to and fro in the
air towards the further end of the room. I saw that
it proceeded from some insect. The insect presently
alighted on a table, and I succeeded in securing it
under an inverted tumbler ; then I carried it to the
lamp for examination.

I found that it was a beetle, rather small, but, both in
form and colour, exceedingly pretty. The light did not
proceed, as in the firefly, from the tail, but from two
circular spots, one on each side of the head. Whether
these spots were its eyes or not I could not determine.
The light they emitted was greater than that of thq

174 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

firefly, and also more beautiful ; it was softer, and was,
besides, faintly tinged with green. My examination
being concluded, I carried the little captive into the
verandah, and there released him. His soft light flitted
for a minute or so in the darkness, and then dis-
appeared. Either he had extinguished it, or he had
himself become concealed among the shrubs of the
garden.

But of all the Indian insect lights the palm for
beauty must, I think, be conceded to that of the glow-
worm. I can only, however, remember but once
beholding it. I was on leave at Mussoorie. Riding out
one evening, I passed a rocky bank much overgrown
with bushes and long grass. At one place near the
bottom of the bank I noticed a glow of light ; it was
so large and soft that I stopped to examine it. I found
that it issued from a small hollow, where a piece of the
rock had loosened and fallen out. A curtain of
long grass hung over in front, giving to the hollow
the aspect of a little cave. It required but slight
imagination to picture some small fairy seated within
it, so clear, so soft and beautiful, was the light that
filled the hollow and shone through the veil of grass.
It was a disillusioning when I drew aside the grass and
found behind it only a large grub of a most unpleasant
appearance.

From insects I will now turn to animals. In a
former chapter I stated that I should presently say
a few words regarding that variety of them that can
fly, namely, the bats. An incident that occurred the
other evening reminds me to do so. I had finished

WHITE ANTS 175

tea, and was sitting reading, when I felt a wave of air
against my cheek, and at the same time some dark
object shot swiftly by. It was a bat. Attracted by the
lights, it had entered the room, and was now circling
about it. When a bat thus enters a room it is farewell
to peace till it has departed. With short intervals
of rest on the walls and cornices, it sweeps round in-
cessantly, and there is something in its noiseless flight
that is most unpleasant ; besides, it occasionally ex-
tinguishes the candles ; and there is always the dread
that it may alight on one's person, or if a lady is
present, get entangled in her hair. But to drive out
a bat is not easy, it flies so rapidly, conceals itself so
readily, and then the rooms are so large and lofty. It
was more than half an hour before this bat was got
rid of. At length it was chased to one of the open
windows, passed through it, and departed.

The bats that thus enter houses are mostly those
of the smaller varieties. Their bodies do not much
exceed in size that of a mouse. From these smallest
of bats there is every gradation of magnitude up to
those enormous creatures known among Europeans as
the "flying foxes." These great bats are, however, rarely
seen in these provinces except in the eastern districts,
those that are nearest to Bengal. I was once stationed
in that part of the country, and often beheld them, but
only when flying. Soon after sunset they used to
appear, and in great numbers, but each always flew
alone. They flew at immense altitudes, and always
in the same direction. High as they were above, they
still appeared as large as vultures. But their flight was

176 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

different ; it had in it something very majestic. They
never rose, never descended, never swerved to right
or left, never increased their speed nor diminished it ;
they moved on always at the same even rate, in the
same direct, undeviating course, their wings beating
with the regularity of machinery. Their flight was
very swift, though, from its evenness, it did not appear
so. It was only when I noticed how quickly they
passed out of view that I realized how rapidly they
flew.

The natives regard the bat as the very type of im-
purity, and I think that those who have ever entered
the upper domes of the ancient mosques and tombs
will incline to the same opinion. In these places the
bats especially congregate. Hanging head downward,
they form a complete lining to the walls. Their drop-
pings make a layer inches deep on the floors ; their
hideous aspect, their sickening odour, excite a feeling
of intense repulsion.

Nevertheless the bats, notwithstanding their offensive
odour, are clean feeders. They devour insects certainly,
but they subsist chiefly on fruits. They will travel
great distances to obtain such as they fancy. Some
years ago, at another station, a tree grew in front of
the house I occupied. The tree bore in great profusion
a kind of uneatable fruit. The fruit ripened towards
the end of the rains ; and then as it ripened a species
of bat came in multitudes to devour it. They used
to arrive soon after dark. They first fl'*:ted round the
tree ; next they attached themselves to the branches
and commenced to devour the fruit. The tree then

WHITE ANTS 177

presented the most weird appearance. The bats were
very large, the size at least of half-grown kittens ; and
from every branch and spray capable of supporting the
weight hung one or several of them head downwards.
Beheld thus in the half-darkness, the tree resembled
one of those I have seen represented in old pictures
as growing in the lower regions on the bank of the
Styx.

Now the curious thing was that this was the only tree
of the kind in the station ; and this species of bat,
I was told, was not found anywhere in the neighbour-
hood. By what instinct, then, did they discover the
existence of the tree and the time when its fruit
ripened ? As soon as the fruit was all devoured, the
bats departed.

N

CHAPTER XL
THE EARLY COLD WEATHER

THE garden attached to this house is very large
and extremely pretty. It is indeed, I think, one
of the very prettiest of the English gardens in Upper
India. It abounds in orange, lemon, and pomegranate
trees ; and also, due to the more northerly latitude,
there are grapes and peaches as well. Roses in pro-
fusion border the paths, and scattered over the lawn
there are many oleanders and other flowering shrubs.
In the centre of the garden there is a very large
thatched summer-house ; and the water by which the
garden is irrigated is raised from the well by means of
to me the novelty of a Persian wheel.

I had returned from my drive the other morning, and
was sauntering through the garden. When near the
summer-house I came on a grasshopper, one of that
curious variety termed by Europeans the " praying
mantis." He was on the path, seated on his hind legs ;
his long body was erect, and his front legs raised with
the feet joined, exactly like the arms and hands of a
man in an attitude of devotion. The little creature
allowed me to approach quite near, even to touch it.
Then of a sudden it gave a spring, shot high into the

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 179

air, alighted on a small shrub close by, and as it alighted
it disappeared.

I had seen the mantis alight, and I had noted the
branch, and also the part of the branch, on which it had
descended ; and yet, look as I would, I could not
discover it. I looked long and carefully. The branch
was rather bare ; there were a few leaves on it, and
some twigs, but nothing more. Of the mantis there
was no sign. Suddenly, while I was still looking and
wondering what had become of it, one of the twigs
moved, sprang into the air, alighted on the path ; and
there was the mantis again, seated erect on the ground,
with its legs raised in the same devotional attitude as
before.

There are in India many varieties of insects that,
when they place themselves in certain positions on
plants or shrubs, appear to be a part of the vegetation.
Many of them have been described, but to realize their
wonder they must be seen — one moment a twig, a leaf,
or a flower, the next moment a moth or a grasshopper.

The most marvellous of these transformations that I
ever beheld was at the commencement of the ascent
from the valley of the Doon to Mussoorie. For the first
thousand feet or so the road zigzags up the steep face
of the mountain. The lowest portion of the road is
exceedingly bare, hot, and dusty. Along its outer edge
there grew a row of extremely small shrubs, hardly much
more than half a yard in height. The shrubs were
always covered with a profusion of white flowers, much
resembling " immortelles." In appearance they seemed
as dry and dusty as the road itself.

i8o HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I had often noticed these flowers, and one day I
inquired of my servant what was their name and where
else they grew, for I had never seen any exactly like
them before. The man looked surprised at my question,
and inquired what flowers I referred to ; for, he added,
there were none there, I pointed to the shrubs. He
smiled, walked to one of them, and touched it with his
stick. Instantly the flowers vanished ; I saw a tuft of
bare twigs, and the air was filled with a perfect cloud of
small white moths. They flitted about for a time,
gradually alighted, and the twigs were covered again
with white flowers as before.

The transformation was so sudden, so entirely un-
expected, that at first I could hardly believe that it was
real. It was not till I had myself touched another
shrub, and with a similar result, that I could feel quite
satisfied that these seeming flowers were actually insects.

It was about this time when, as above related, I met
with the mantis, that I discovered a colony of wild bees.
These wild bees are not common in the plains. I had
never seen a collection of them before. I was strolling
through the garden, when I noticed a large protuberance
on the lower side of a branch of a very tall tree. Look-
ing more attentively, I saw that it was the comb of a
wild bees' nest. It seemed full of honey, I had a
curiosity to taste the honey. I told the gardeners, if
they could manage it, to get me a piece of the comb
for breakfast next morning. Somehow or other they
succeeded in doing so, and, moreover, as I was very
glad to learn, without any of them getting stung.

The honey was not at all nice ; it was dark in colour,

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER i8i

and had a degree of unpleasant acidity underlying its
sweetness. The natives regard this honey as very un-
wholesome. My experience confirmed their opinion.
I did not eat much of it, but what I did eat made me
feel for some hours after very uncomfortable. I noticed
that the cells of the comb were extremely small, hardly
more than half the size of the cells of an English honey-
comb. The natives say that these bees of the plains
collect the honey from the flowers during the fourteen
days when the moon shines at night, and that they eat
the honey they have collected in the course of the other
fourteen days when the nights are moonless. This, I
imagine, is a mere fable ; but why the bees should store
up honey at all in this winterless climate does seem
rather surprising.

Having mentioned the bees, I will say a few words on
the wasps. The Indian wasp is larger than the wasp of
this country, and different in appearance. The body is
quite smooth and entirely destitute of hair or down. In
colour it is a bright yellow, very much the tint of the
yellow of our carriages. The colour is not a becoming
one ; these wasps look very much as if they had been
painted. Although they are larger than the English
wasp, their sting is not by any means so painful. This
I can certify from experience.

A great attraction to me in the garden is the Persian
wheel. For the benefit of those readers who have not
seen one, I will briefly describe it. Though called a
wheel, it is really a very roughly made wooden drum, a
yard or more in diameter, and at least six or eight feet
long. It is fixed horizontally across the open mouth of

i82 HAUNTS AND HOBEIIES

the well, and near each end there hangs suspended
round it, in the fashion of a necklace, a long rope
ladder, and to each step of the ladders there is fastened
a small earthen pot.

As the drum revolv'es it carries round the ladders with
it ; the pots descend, mouths downward, dip into the
water, and rise filled on the other side. As they reach
the top and pass over the drum, they become again
reversed, and discharge their contents into a wooden
trough. The trough conveys the water to a small
reservoir, and from thence, by means of shallow
trenches and earthen pipes, it is distributed, as re-
quired, over the garden.

The drum revolves by means of a pair of bullocks
yoked together. They move round and round an upright
post some few yards from the well. As the bullocks
go round they turn the post, and the post again, by
means of a cog-wheel, turns a long beam, and the beam,
by means of another cog-wheel, turns the axle of the
drum. With the exception of the earthen pots, the
whole machine, drum, cog-wheels, post, beam, and all,
is composed entirely of wood and rope. No machine
could be more clumsy or more wasteful of labour, nor,
at the same time, more picturesque.

The bullocks move leisurely round. The driver sits
on the yoke between them, the image of calm. The
cog-wheels creak, the drum as it revolves gives out
a monotonous droning hum, while as the earthen
pots ascend and turn at least a third of the water
they have brought up falls again back into the well.
It falls wuth a gentle splash, pleasant to the ear. The

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 183

machine itself and all its sounds and movements are
suggestive of quiet, of meditation and repose.

The Persian wheel can only be used where the water
lies very near the surface. Twelve or fourteen feet is,
I think, the extreme limit. Beyond this limit the
weight of the pots when filled with water becomes
too great for the ropes to bear, or for the drum to
raise. It is a curious fact that in all Upper India it
is only in the immediate neighbourhood of this station
that the water does lie thus near to the surface, and
consequently it is only here, and in the small tract
of land just around, that the Persian wheel is found.

Elsewhere in Upper India the wells are deep, and
the water is drawn up in great leathern bags. The
bag is attached to a rope ; the rope passes over a wheel,
and is hitched by a hook at the end to the yoke of
a pair of bullocks. The bullocks walk down a long
incline, and as they do so they draw up the bag. To
raise the water in this manner, two men are required.
One man drives the bullocks, the other man stands
at the mouth of the well, receives the bag as it reaches
the summit, and empties the water it has brought up
into the reservoir : from the reservoir it flows into the
field or garden.

In this part of the country the man who receives
the bag sings as he works. His song is a monotonous
chant. When heard at a little distance it is not un-
pleasing. The origin of the custom is accounted for
by a pretty legend. Once in former times a traveller,
so the legend states, was found lying dead in a field.
It was the hot season, and he had perished from thirst ;

1 8+ HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

for, although a well was near, it was concealed by trees
and bushes, and the traveller had not perceived it.
When the raja of the country heard the story he
gave orders that the men at the wells should in future
sing as they drew the water, that travellers suffering
from thirst might know where they could find water
to assuage it.

Usually immediately outside every village there is
a large well, and near it one or two great shady trees,
and, perhaps, a small white temple. The scene at
sunset is then very picturesque. The children play
about, the women assemble to draw water and converse ;
Indian rural life appears in its prettiest aspect.

These wells are, however, a great cause of accident
and of mortality. The mouth of the well is always
left open, and the margin unprotected by fence or wall.
It not unfrequently happens that in drawing the water
a woman overbalances, or her feet slip, and then she
falls. The wells are deep. In most cases, before the
woman v.'ho falls is rescued, she is drowned. The
number of deaths thus caused each year in these
provinces must be enormous. I once roughly calculated
it, taking the amount in my own district as the standard.
I forget the exact numbers, but they amounted to many
thousands. The wells certainly cause a far greater
mortality than either the snakes or the wild beasts.

The wells also, I am sorry to say, afford great
facilities both for murder and suicide. The flinging
children into w^ells, after robbing them of their orna-
ments, was in my time a crime not uncommon, and
the leaping into a well and there drowning was the

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 185

mode of terminating one's own existence the most
frequently resorted to.

Disused wells and wells in lonely and unfrequented
places were, I may add, much used in former days
by Thugs and robbers for the concealment of the
bodies of their victims. Occasionally they are even
now still so used.

I find in my diary nothing more of interest to record
during the remainder of the rainy season ; I will, there-
fore, pass on to the cold weather. Owing to the higher
latitude, the cold weather commences here earlier than
at my two former stations ; it lasts longer, and while it
lasts it is cooler, more bracing and agreeable.

It is now the middle of October ; the mornings are
delicious. After returning from my early ride, I can
walk about the garden till the sun is quite high without
any inconvenience ; then I sit in the summer-house,
read, and drink my early tea. The blue sky is above,
the flowers around, and, softened by the distance, there
falls pleasantly on my ear the monotonous droning hum
of the Persian wheel.

The garden presents a pretty scene, but beyond it lies
one far grander. I pass the belt of trees that encloses
the compound, and see stretched before me the long,
glistening line of the far Himalaya. During the rains
the mountains were nearly always concealed behind a
thick bank of cloud ; now at morning and evening they
stand out clear in all their sublimity. The mountains
run from north-west to south-east ; and, seen from here,
they appear to form a boundary round nearly a fourth
of the horizon. They rise in successive ranges : the

1 86

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

lowest, comparatively near, is dark, and clothed with
forest ; the next, loftier and more distant, stretches
steep and bare ; while behind it towers the long white
wall of the range of perpetual snow.

The sunrise at this season of the year is a beautiful
spectacle. First the atmosphere above the snow assumes
a rosy tint ; the tint deepens, and occasionally beams of
light issue from it and spread high into the firmament.
Next the sun appears ; the higher peaks for an instant
glitter like crystal ; then they and the entire line of
mountains disappear in a luminous mist. The mist
fades as the sun mounts higher, and presently the lower
mountains and the white, snowy range come clearly into
view.

The other morning the sunrise was peculiarly beauti-
ful ; the beams of light stretched over the entire heaven,
and met again on the opposite horizon ; and at the
point where the beams met there was the same rosy
tint in the sky as at the point above the mountains
from whence they issued. The effect was that of a
double sunrise : a sunrise to the east over the Hima-
laya and a second sunrise over the boundless plain to
the west.

The similar appearance of a double sunset is not at
all unfrequent during the rainy season ; but this of a
double sunrise is of extreme rarity. It is so rare, that,
except on this one occasion, I never beheld it ; and
yet, during my long residence in India, I must have
seen the rising of the sun many thousand times.

The especial beauty of this sunrise was the breadth,
the brightness, and the many tints of the beams of

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 187

light that stretched across the heavens. The one that
passed through the zenith was of a blue so intense,
that the sky on either side, deep blue as it really was,
appeared pale, almost white, in contrast.

During the last few days, when in the garden in the
morning, I have been struck by the number of flocks
of wild ducks, wild geese, cranes, and other aquatic
birds that have passed by overhead. At this season
of the year they can hardly be migrating to colder
regions, and yet they have all been directing their
course more or less to the north.

The flocks have never been large ; the largest have
been those of the wild ducks, but even these have
seldom consisted of more than twenty or twenty-five
birds. From the height, however, at which they fly, it
is not easy to quite correctly ascertain their numbers.
The wild ducks, and indeed most of the other aquatic
birds, fly in two converging lines ; the lines unite in
front, forming a figure resembling the letter V. The
reason for this arrangement usually assigned is that
it enables the flock to pass most easily through the
air, just as a sharp-prowed boat does through the water.

I am not quite sure that this explanation is correct ;
but one fact appears to support it. The foremost bird,
the bird at the point of the V, never for very long
retains his position ; after a short interval he drops to
the rear, and some other bird succeeds him. From this
it may be inferred that the foremost position is the most
laborious, as having the greatest resistance of the air to
overcome ; and if so, the resistance of the air must be
lessened for the birds that follow.

1 88 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I have often watched the birds making this change
of position ; it is a sight most pretty to witness.
The change is effected so quietly, so easily, without
pause, confusion, or even the least diminution of
speed.

In regard to the two converging lines in which these
birds fly, it is curious that they are never of the same
length, one line being always considerably longer than
the other. The difference is occasionally very great.
I have seen the one line consist of no more than two
birds; the leader and the bird behind him ; while in the
other line the number of the birds amounts to as many
as six or even eight ; and what is more curious, if
I remember correctly, is that the longer line is invariably
tlie line on the right.

The flight of these aquatic birds is very different
to that of the vultures, kites, swallows, or indeed any of
the purely land birds : they do not sweep round nor
circle, nor rise nor fall, nor augment nor diminish their
speed. They proceed on always in the same direct
course, and at the same uniform pace. The most
striking to observe are the great cranes ; they flap their
large, pointed wings so leisurely; their long necks
stretch out in front, and their still longer legs behind,
in a manner almost laughable. Far prettier, however,
to watch are the flocks of the wild ducks ; they fly
with extreme rapidity, and the beat of their wings,
in its force and regularity, reminds one almost of that
of the paddles of a steamer. It seems to require great
effort, and yet it can hardly do so, for these birds thus
travel through the air for immense distances, and that

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 189

without ever alighting or at any time diminishing their
speed.

As the cranes and the geese pass by overhead, they
often utter their shrill, screaming cry. High as they
are aloft, their cry is still quite distinctly, loudly heard ;
and yet, when uttered by the birds on the ground, I do
not know that it seems louder, or is heard further, than
that of many other animals.

I think, but am not sure, that when the flocks of wild
ducks happened to fly lower than usual, that I have
sometimes heard the beating of their wings against
the air.

The weather is now so cool that I often walk instead
of riding in the early morning. To-day I returned
home by a footpath that led across the open fields. I
had, as usual, a servant with me. We presently came
on a large party of labouring women, at least thirty or
forty in number ; they were walking over the fields
a little to" our right. They were singing as they went,
and I noticed that most of them carried small sheets of
coarse cotton cloth, such as the poor in harvest-time
use to hold their gleanings. As there was then no
harvest being gathered, I was curious to know where
the women were going, and sent my servant to inquire.

The man went, the women stopped, and a long
conversation ensued. Presently the servant returned
and informed me that the women were on their way
to a tract of fallow land about a mile in front, where
a wild grass grew. The seeds of this grass were now
ripe, and the women were going to gather them to
grind up with their flour.

190 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

The late rain crops had been deficient in quantity,
so much so, indeed, that there were some fears of a
scarcity, for it is on these crops that the poor chiefly
depend. I supposed that it was on this account that
the women were going to gather the grass seed. My
servant, however, told me that the badness of the
harvest had nothing to do with the use of the grass
seed. This seed, he said, was in itself nutritious, and
was always thus ground up with their corn by the poor,
however abundant the harvest might be. He informed
me also that the grass which yielded this seed was
found only on land left fallow, and on which wheat or
some other similar cereal had been previously grown.

This account of the servant excited my interest, for,
long as I had been in India, I had never previously
heard of a grass of this description. If the account
was in all particulars correct, the existence of such
a grass might possibly throw some light on the problem
of the origin of cereal grains. I resolved to visit the
place and obtain some specimens of the grass and its
seed. I am sorry to say that, for some cause or other,
I never carried this resolution into effect. That the
seeds of this grass are ground up by the poor with their
corn may be accepted as a fact, but as to whether the
seeds are in themselves nutritious, or in any way
resemble wheat or other grain, I am unable to express
an opinion.

The meeting with these women and the purpose for
which they were going brought before me the simplicity
and also the unchangeableness of Eastern life. The
oxen tread out the corn, and the winds winnow it, and

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 191

the women of each household grind it to-day, just as
they did in the times of the patriarchs. The women,
as they grind the corn, sit face to face, the light hand-
mill between. It must have been to women so grinding
that our Lord alluded when He said that of the two
the one should be taken, and the other left.

The handmill is to the Indian household much
what the distaff and spindle were to the household of
mediaeval Europe. It is always associated with the
careful housewife, the industrious maiden. It must be
confessed, however, that it does not suggest to the
minds the same poetical images. Nevertheless it has
been made the subject of a pretty verse — a verse
composed, according to tradition, by a fakir, one
Kubbeera Doss, who lived some three centuries ago.
The verse, if I remember it correctly, is as follows : —

" Chultee, chuckee, dakhekar

Dea Kubbeera ro :

' Do patan ke beech akar

Sabit gia neh ko.' "

It may be thus rendered : —

'' Seeing a handmill grinding,

Kubbeera gave a sigh :
* Who come between the two discs

None unbroken pass.'"

The millstones suggest the earth and the heavens,
the grains of corn the human race, all of whom are
destined to death and decay.

I have mentioned that the women I met were all
singing. To a European ear nothing could be more
discordant than the sound ; even distance did not soften
it. I inquired of my servant what were the words of

192 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the song. He listened for a minute or two, and then
repeated them. The song consisted of a single verse.
The following is a nearly literal translation : —

" My husband has ridden away,

On his horse he has strapped the saddle :

If I had known his intention

[Lit.: If I had known this word],

I would have snatched away his whip."

About three miles beyond the station there is a
small tract of waste land. Scattered over it are some
clumps of a species of giant grass ; the central stem
of each clump is as thick as a bulrush, and grows to
a height — I write from memory — of from thirteen to
fifteen feet : the stem terminates in a feathery tuft. I
often pass this waste tract in my morning walk, and
I had noticed that the tops of many of these stems
bent over till the tufts at the end hung down nearly
perpendicularly, and suspended from each there was a
large pear-shaped lump nearly the size of a cocoa-nut.

This morning I had the curiosity to examine these
lumps. I found that they were birds' nests, and birds'
nests of the most singular construction. The pear-shaped
lump was the actual nest ; it was attached to the
feathery tuft by a pendant of blades of dry grass most
ingeniously entwined ; and, what was even more curious,
there projected from the side of the nest, near the
bottom, where the nest was broadest, a sort of spout.
This spout curved downwards, and descended in very
much the form of a trumpet for the distance of at least
half a yard. This, my servant told me, was the passage
which led up to the entrance to the nest.

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 193

The nest was so curious that I was anxious to closely
examine it, but on the spot this was not possible, for
it hung high out of reach. However, on my return
home I sent and had two of the stems of grass cut
and brought to me with the nest attached ; I felt that
I could do this without unkindness, as the young birds
had long ago been hatched, grown up, and departed.
One of the nests I kept as a curiosity ; the other I
partly opened to examine.

The more I examined the nest the more I became
impressed with wonder that a bird could have con-
structed it. The trumpet-like tube was a marvel of
delicate weaving ; the long neck by which the nest
was suspended was as strong almost as a rope, and the
blades of grass of which it was composed were so
elaborately entwined into the feathery tuft that I in
vain endeavoured to undo them.

The nest consisted of a little chamber within the pear-
shaped mass ; it was domed above, and, if I remember
correctly, was also partly divided by a sort of partition ;
it was lined with pieces of cotton-wool that had been
manifestly plucked from the growing plants, bits of
cloth, and a variety of other soft substances. For a
hibernating animal in the far north the little chamber
would have been a paradise, but how in this climate
the young birds could have endured it seemed astonish-
ing, for, exposed the livelong day to the blazing Indian
sun, its temperature must have approached to that of an
oven.

I may add that the bottom and lower parts of the
sides of the nest were extremely thick, and it was this
0

194 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

that gave to the nest when seen from without its pear-
shaped appearance. The nest was so firmly constructed
that it was with the greatest difficulty that I could
partially open it without tearing the whole fabric to
pieces.

On examining one of these nests the feeling excited
is one of wonder and admiration at the skill and
patient labour displayed in their construction ; then
the question presents itself as to the purpose for which
all this skill and labour has been exerted. The ex-
planation usually given is that the nest is suspended
to protect the eggs and young birds from snakes, and
that the long, hollow tube is added as an additional
security, but this explanation has never appeared to
me at all satisfactory. The nest would be as safe in
a tree, for snakes do not ordinarily climb trees, while,
as to the hollow tube, no snake could reach the nest
as it is, and if one did the lightly woven tube would
certainly afford no protection.

A day or two after examining these nests I was
strolling through the garden. I passed a bush. Some-
thing brown darted out of it ; I thought it was a rat :
then, as it ran, I perceived it was a bird. It ran on and
joined its companions who were under another bush a
little further on.

These birds — I forget their name — are very common
in the Indian gardens. They are about the size of a
thrush, and with plumage almost exactly the colour
of dust ; they rarely, if ever, fly, always run, and this
they do with outstretched necks and extreme rapidity.
Their size, their colour, their mode of running, and the

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 195

sudden way in which they dart out of the bushes give
them a most disagreeable resemblance to rats.

They have also a singular habit of always associating
in groups of uneven numbers, either five or seven. The
natives have a pretty legend accounting for the habit.
I am sorry to say that I have forgotten it.

The plumage of these birds is certainly unusually
dull ; but, contrary to what is generally supposed, the
colouring of the Indian birds is rarely brilliant. The
peacock, indeed, in his gorgeous tints has no equal ; and
the munal, the pheasant of the Himalaya, may bear
comparison with the golden pheasant of China ; and
the bright green of the parrots is extremely pretty.
But, with the exception of these and those occasional
visitors the flamingoes and the mango-birds, I cannot,
at the moment, call to mind any bird in Upper India
that is really brilliantly arrayed.

The flamingo I have already described. I will here
say a few words of the mango-bird. It is a species of
oriole. It is termed by the English the mango-bird,
from the circumstance that it makes its appearance at
the time when the mango fruit ripens. As regards
both form and colouring, it is a beautiful creature. Its
back and wings and long, graceful tail are of the
smoothest velvety black, while its breast is of the
richest golden yellow.

I have mentioned the parrots. About here they
abound. They fly in flocks, screaming as they fly.
Heard out of doors, their scream is not unpleasant, and
it is charming to watch them ; their flight is so rapid
and graceful, their form so pretty, and their colouring

196 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

so bright. In their colouring, however, they are sur-
passed by their brethren in the Himalaya, for the
parrots of the Himalaya, in addition to the green
plumage of their wings and body, have their necks
encircled by a crimson band.

The country now looks extremely pretty. The
young wheat of the next spring harvest is just appear-
ing. For miles and miles the fields, hitherto bare and
brown, now display a surface of the freshest green.
Interspersed among them are plantations of cotton and
sugarcane, and occasionally patches of the taller rain
crops, which, though long ripe, for some reason or
other have been left still standing. These crops are
magnificent in appearance. They rise to a height of
nine or ten feet, and, their stems growing close together,
they form an impenetrable screen. A M'hole army
might conceal itself behind them. During the Mutiny
this actually occurred.

A mutineer force lay hidden among these tall crops
for three whole days, and that within a mile of the fort
of Agra. Their presence was only discovered when
they opened fire and charged out on General Greathed's
column, which had encamped on the parade ground
close adjacent.

The prettiest of the crops — I mean of those full
grown — are the sugarcane and the cotton plants. The
sugarcane, tall and green, resembles a patch of the
wildest jungle. A tiger might have his lair within it.
The cotton field, on the other hand, is the perfection
of neatness. The plants, straight and slim, of but
moderate height, with bushy crowns, might be walking

THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 197

canes that blossomed into life. Each plant is now
covered with ripening pods, most of which have burst,
and display the little white bundles of cotton that have
developed within them.

Many of the fields contain several varieties of crops,
all growing up intermingled together. In one field the
other morning I counted no fewer than five distinct
crops, all thus growing together. They were as follow :
(i) wheat; (2) a kind of barley; (3) a grain called
kussum; (4) another called seeson ; and (5), last, one
called tilsee.

This practice of growing several varieties of crops
intermingled was in former days regarded by some
English writers as showing the agricultural ignorance
and backward civilization of the Hindoos. The practice
is now recognized as the outcome of the accumulated
experience of centuries. The practice has in this
climate many advantages, among others that the
young shoots of the later-sown crops are protected
by the taller and earlier grown from the scorching heat
of the Indian sun.

In connection with Indian agriculture there is one
circumstance which must always excite curiosity.
Except in the immediate neighbourhood of the towns,
the soil is never manured, and yet it continues year
after year to yield these abundant crops. How then
arc the constituents which the plants withdraw from the
soil again supplied? Is it by means of the irrigation,
or by the dust which during the hot weather is
deposited by the winds in such abundance ?

When walking over the open fields, one can under-

198 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

stand why the Levitical law so denounces those who
remove their neighbour's landmark. The fields here,
as generally in the East, are separated by neither hedges,
ditches, nor stone walls. A low, narrow raised line of
earth alone indicates their limits, and where the fields
of two different proprietors adjoin, small conical-shaped
mounds of earth at either end of the line show that
the line forms also the boundary of the two properties.

These earthen mounds can be easily removed and
re-erected, and they often are. One of the proprietors
comes to inspect his fields some morning ; he discov'ers
that the field on the border has diminished in area, the
position of the boundary pillars has been altered, and
a strip, perhaps a large one, of this field now appears to
belong to his neighbour.

This removal of boundary pillars is a most fertile
source of litigation, and the cases, owing to the unrelia-
bility of the evidence on either side, are some of the
most difficult to justly determine.

CHAPTER XII.
A COLD WEATHER TOUR

I HAVE occasionally to visit some outlying offices,
and one of them is situated beyond the first range
of the mountains in the valley of the Doon. The
weather being now so pleasant, I decided to make the
journey by marching with tents. It was about the
middle of November when I set out. The tents,
horses, servants, and the carts with the baggage left in
the morning ; I followed on my pony in the afternoon.
The march was a long one, and I rode leisurely. It
was near sunset before I reached the camp. I found
it pitched on the margin of a grove of mango-trees,
close adjacent to a village. Before the village there
stood a great peepul-tree, and not far from it a small
white temple and a well.

The open space between my camp and the village
presented a most animated appearance. The sugar-
cane crop had just been cut and carried, and the juice
was now being pressed out in a mill and boiled. The
mill was a machine as simple and clumsy as the
Persian wheel, and almost as picturesque. It consisted
of a round block of wood, apparently the lower part
of the trunk of a tree. The block was fixed firmly in

199

200 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the ground ; its upper portion was hollowed. The
hollow was filled with pieces of the sugarcane cut
in short lengths, and from the midst of them, standing
nearly upright, there projected a long, thick pole. The
pole was made to turn round and round by means
of a horizontal shaft, to which were yoked a pair
of bullocks. As the pole turned it crushed the cane,
and the cane juice flowed out through a hole lower
down in the block. A rough wooden trough received
the juice, and conveyed it to a shed at a little distance ;
there it fell into a cauldron, and was boiled by a fire
below.

The bullocks moved placidly round, the man that
drove them sitting half asleep on their shoulders. The
shaft and pole creaked and groaned as they turned.
The cane juice as it boiled hissed and bubbled, and
at the same time diffused through the air a pleasant
aroma ; while from the fire, fed with thorny brush-
wood, there issued at short intervals loud crackling
sounds.

The pressing and boiling employed the services of
several men. Some chopped the canes ; some fed the
mill ; others attended to the fire and the boiling. But
these formed only a small portion of the people assem-
bled. Half the men of the village seemed to be
present, looking on. Most of them were comfortably
seated on the ground, but several were standing; and
these appeared to have just returned from their labours
in the fields, for they had with them spades and hoes
and their light Indian ploughs. Besides the men, there
were women at the well, chattering and drawing water.

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 201

also a multitude of children, running and playing
about, and most of them were munching pieces of
the fresh sugarcane, as, indeed, were a considerable
number of the men. It was a pretty scene of rural
enjoyment.

As the day faded the villagers gradually retired, but
the mill continued working, and the cane juice boiling,
till well into the night. It soon grew dark, and then
the fire in the shed sent out a bright ruddy glow. I
remained watching it, and listening to the sleepy dron-
ing of the mill, till I was summoned away by the
announcement that my dinner was ready. My ride
had given me an appetite. I ate my dinner with
much enjoyment. Then I sat and read, and had tea,
and soon after I went to bed, for at earliest dawn the
next morning we were to strike the tents and to
commence our second march.

It would be tedious to describe my tour day by day.
I will, therefore, mention only such incidents as I think
will prove interesting, and some of these, I should
explain, occurred on former occasions, when in earlier
years I had held office in this part of the country
through which I am now proceeding.

We marched at first in the direction of the Ganges.
We had crossed the canal, and were proceeding along
its further bank to the northward, when there fell on
our ears a murmuring sound, like the humming of
insects. As we went on the sound grew louder, and
presently it began to resemble that confused noise
which arises from a great assembly of people ; but no
such assembly was in sight, nor were there any large

202 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

towns or villages in the neighbourhood. Both I and
my servants were greatly puzzled.

Presently there appeared before us a grove of trees.
We passed the grove, and the mystery of the noise
stood revealed. About a mile away, on the other side
of the canal, we beheld a collection of tents and
booths, and around and among them a vast concourse
of people. It was from this concourse that the mur-
muring sound proceeded.

The mystery of the noise thus explained, another
enigma presented itself. What was the cause of the
assemblage? No great fair was ever held in these
parts ; and yet what else could have ever drawn so
many people together ? While the servants were
making all sorts of surmises we reached one of the
many bridges that cross the canal. A small party of
villagers were passing over it from the other side. We
stopped, pointed to the crowd, and inquired its mean-
ing. One of the party stepped forward and answered.
He told us that a very wealthy banker had lately died
in a town not far distant. By his will he had directed
that a sum of one or two lacs of rupees should be
bestowed in charity on the poor of the neighbourhood,
and this spot, for some reason or other, had been
selected as the place of distribution.

The man added that the whole country far and
near had flocked in for a share, and, among the rest,
himself and his companions. To their extreme disgust,
the money was distributed, not in silver, as they had
expected, but in copper, and that of coins of the very
smallest value. He and his party had received not

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 203

more than a few pennies altogether, a sum which, he
exclaimed with much indignation, was not worth the
trouble of the journey they had made to receive it.

This sort of almsgiving was common in former
days, but under our rule it has fallen very much into
disuse. It is certainly opposed to all our conceptions
of beneficial charity, and no doubt it was often the
result of mere ostentation or superstition. Still it tended
to inculcate unselfish ideas regarding wealth and to
promote kindly feelings between the rich and the poor,
while not unfrequently the money was distributed from
very pure and sincere feelings of religion.

I proceeded onwards to near the head of the canal.
From there I retraced my steps, and, after marching for
two or three days to the westward, I reached the
margin of the great forest that stretches along the
base of the Shewalic mountains ; and here we halted
for the night. Next morning after breakfast the tents
were struck and laden, and sent on with the rest of
the baggage, the horses, and servants. I strolled about
and sat under a tree. Early in the afternoon I mounted
my pony and followed. Our march lay through the
forest, and our halting - place was to be at the foot
of the mountains.

The first sight of this forest is a little disappointing.
There is no silence, no gloom. The trees do not meet
overhead ; many of them are small : while, interspersed
among them, there are frequent patches of brushwood
or tall grass. The scene does not at all realize one's
conceptions of a primeval forest. It rather suggests a
gigantic copse.

204 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I have been told by those who have seen them that
the forests far to the east are much grander. The trees
there are of enormous size. High aloft their branches
interlace, and form a canopy of foliage — a canopy
so thick, that through it even the rays of the Indian
hot weather sun can but faintly penetrate. Above
the forest there is dazzling sunshine ; the burning
wind sweeps by, carrying with it clouds of dust. Below
there is gloom, half twilight, motionless air, and a
silence broken only by the faint murmur of the wind
that roars above.

In great contrast to those eastern forests was the
forest through which I was now proceeding. There
was plenty of sunlight, abundance of sound. The birds
twittered, the insects hummed, and the tall grass and
the leaves waved and rustled in the wind. Also I did
not want for society, for the road along which I was
travelling was the high-road to the Doon and Mus-
soorie, and carts, cattle, and foot - passengers were
continually passing along it. Once or twice also I
met camels.

For the first few miles I enjoyed the ride. The forest
was a pleasant change from the monotonous aspect of
the cultivated country I had left behind. But after a
while the forest itself became wearisome. There were
no streams, no glades, no habitations, for ever the
same straight road, on either side the same scattered
trees, and between them the same patches of tall,
coarse grass and copse-like brushwood. The sameness
of the scene was not either diversified by the appearance
of any wild animals. The forest swarms with game of

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 205

every description, yet in the day-time but few display
themselves. Once a small deer trotted across the road,
and further on I caught sight of three jackals ; but as
to the multitude of the other forest inhabitants, neither
by sight nor sound did they give evidence of their
existence.

It was a relief when at length I reached our encamp-
ing-ground. It was a small, open space not far from
the entrance of the pass which leads through the
mountains to the Doon. The carts and servants had
already arrived, and the tents were being pitched, and
the baggage unladen. There was still an hour or more
of daylight remaining ; so, to pass away the time,
I strolled up to the dak bungalow, that is, the small
house erected by the Government for the accommoda-
tion of European travellers. In those days one such
bungalow stood at the interval of a few miles along
all the great roads in Upper India.

This bungalow was situated on a small, level spot on
a spur of the mountain. It stood about eighty feet
above our encamping-ground. The ascent to it was
by an easy zigzag path. At the bungalow I met with
an old acquaintance in the person of one of the two
servants. I had known him for many years, first as
a "bearer" — house attendant — in the service of an
English family. He was then a Hindoo, meek and
placid, and in demeanour very deferential. He had
since embraced the Mahomedan faith, and both in
manner and appearance he exhibited the influence of
his new religion.

He had adopted of course the Mahomedan dress,

2o6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

and with it, and in an exaggerated and rather an
aggressive degree, the Mahomedan independent de-
meanour. Also he had grown a beard. The cause
of his conversion was the usual one. He had formed
an attachment to a Mahomedan young lady, not
one, I am sorry to say, of the most irreproachable
character, and being in consequence ejected from his
own religion, he had no option but to embrace hers.
I had last seen him at the dak bungalow in the open
waste land that extends all along the margin of the
forest. He was then, he informed me, very unhappy ;
the desolation of his surroundings utterly depressed
him, and certainly the place was very lonesome and
dreary. He added that he had applied to be transferred
elsewhere. The result of his application was my find-
ing him here ; but in this case success had not brought
contentment. At first, he said, he had liked the change,
for he had arrived at the commencement of the hot
season, when there were plenty of travellers. Now he
rather regretted the waste. " That," as he expressed
it, "was a jehunnum" (hell); "but this was a 'dobarah
jehunnum ' " (a double hell). At this time there were
few or no travellers, and what troubled him more, in
consequence, no perquisites ; and, besides, at night he
and his fellow-servant went in fear of their lives. All
around there were bears, wolves, and hyenas, and lately
they had heard a tiger ; and, as if this was not enough,
only three days ago a whole herd of wild elephants had
crossed the mountain just behind the bungalow, and
these having come, it was only likely that others would
follow.

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 207

Now I knew that the herds of wild elephants did
wander into the Doon, but then I had always under-
stood that they made their way through the passes. It
appeared to me utterly incredible that these enormous,
clumsy creatures could climb mountains that it was
difficult even for a man to ascend. My friend, however,
insisted that he was speaking only the exact truth.
The tracks of the elephants, he said, were still quite
plain, and if I would accompany him he would take me
at once and show them, I thought it rather too late
to venture unarmed into the jungle, with so many wild
animals about, and so I made an arrangement to visit
the place with him the next morning. This matter
settled, I had a chair brought and placed on the little
terrace before the verandah, and sat down to contem-
plate the landscape.

The view was very striking. During the whole day's
march we had ascended. The ascent was gentle, but
it was continuous ; it had conducted us to an elevation
of many hundred feet above the place from whence
we had started. Foreshortened by the distance, con-
cealed by the higher trees, the patches of grass and
brushwood were no longer visible. The mountains rose
abruptly behind. Before me, so far as the eye could
reach, there stretched one long, wide slope of verdant
forest.

All along the horizon the forest was bounded by
a yellow band of mingled dust and haze. As the day
declined the yellow band assumed a purple tinge.
Presently the sun disappeared within it, a deep red,
glowing ball.

2o8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I remained a short time watching the sunset tints ;
then I rose and descended to the encamping-ground.
So quickly in these latitudes does night succeed to day
that by the time I reached the ground the short
twihght was already beginning to fade. I found my
tents now pitched ; and during my absence several
travellers had arrived, and also carts laden with
goods and produce. Some had come from the Doon ;
others were on their way there. What with men, carts,
and animals, the camping-ground presented a most
cheerful appearance.

The cattle and ponies were reposing or eating their
grain or fodder ; the travellers were preparing their
dinners. Each traveller or each small party cooked
their dinner at a separate fire. As the darkness came
on the multitude of these little fires had a most
cheerful and pretty appearance ; but I did not remain
long to observe it, for my own dinner was now ready,
and I was too hungry to delay going into the tent
to enjoy it.

Dinner over, I had logs and brushwood collected
outside, and a fire lighted ; and then, well wrapped up,
I left the tent and sat beside it, for here, with the
mountains behind and the forest in front, and at an
elevation of more than two thousand feet above the sea,
the night was really cold. The glow of the fire soon
attracted the servants, and before long some of the
travellers as well. One by one they crept cautiously
up, standing at a respectful distance ; then, on my
inviting them, they approached near, and sat down.

We had presently quite an assemblage round the

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 209

fire. Soon we began to converse. The situation sug-
gested the subjects. We spoke of the inhabitants
of the forest, and also of those of the mountains. I
Hstened to tales of the elephants, the tigers, the bears,
and the other many wild beasts, also to those of evil
spirits and the fairies. The tales related were often
very marvellous ; but the time, the darkness, and the
surroundings imparted to them a reality. The forest was
in front, close behind us rose the mountains, and from
both forest and mountains sounds continually fell on
our ears which showed that the animals about which
we were conversing were not far distant, also that
they were awake and wandering around in search
of prey.

Every now and then we heard the barking cry of
the deer, the melancholy wailing yelp of the troops
of jackals, and occasionally that most fear- inspiring
of all the forest sounds, the dull roar of the tiger ;
and once we all paused in our talk to listen to a
crashing among the trees that told us that a herd
of elephants were passing, and were not very far
distant.

The stories of the supernatural beings were, perhaps,
the most exciting. To many of our assembly they
were also the most alarming, for in the reality of
their existence the natives are firm believers ; and
it is in the mountains that the fairies mostly reside.
The Indian fairy, I may explain, unlike our English
fairy, is of more than human stature, and though
marvellously beautiful, is yet perfectly malignant.

We continued to chat till the fire sank low, and then
P

210 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

one by one the travellers retired. Most of the servants
did the same ; and I also, after sitting a little longer,
entered my tent and went to bed. I was tired, and
soon fell asleep, and slept that delicious sleep that
is only in tents to be obtained, for though the canvas
walls exclude the draughts, the pure, fresh air still
for ever passes through them.

Our march next day was to be through a defile
in the mountains into the valley of the Doon. As
the march would be a long one, I breakfasted early.
The meal over, the tents were struck, and the servants
commenced to load the carts ; and I, in fulfilment of
my engagement, walked up to the bungalow to see
the tracks of the elephants. I found the servant
waiting to conduct me. Immediately behind the
bungalow there projected a small spur of the mountain ;
a narrow footpath led round it. On reaching the other
side I beheld, to my astonishment, plain and un-
mistakable, the tracks of evidently a large number
of elephants.

The tracks extended from the base of the mountain
to the summit of the spur, a height, I should say,
of nearly three hundred feet. The slope was through-
out extremely steep. Towards the summit it was
indeed so steep that I could only ascend it on my
hands and knees, and not unfrequently I had also
to draw myself up by catching hold of the stems
of the coarse grass and the brushwood.

The appearance of the track explained the mode
by which the elephants had ascended. Where the
soil was sandy there were numerous impressions of

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 211

their feet ; but generally the track presented only a
tolerably smooth, bare surface, with the grass and
brushwood crushed flat or torn away, much as if a
large block of stone or a mass of timber had been
dragged up the mountain. It was evident that the
elephants must have knelt on the knees of their hind
legs and worked themselves up the ascent, their bodies
resting on the surface.

The smoothness of the track and the multitude of
their droppings showed that many elephants must
have passed, but as to how many the bungalow at-
tendant could give me no information. Indeed, I do
not think he had been in a position to observe, for I
gathered that on first becoming aware of the approach of
the herd he had made his way back to the bungalow
with as much haste as he could, and I think that most
other persons would have done the same.

The inspection of the elephant tracks had occupied
some time. When I returned to the camping-ground
I found that the carts and servants had already
departed. I waited for an hour or two to let them
get well on their way, and then I mounted my pony
and followed. Just at the end of the encamping-
ground there lay a wide expanse of bare sand,
thickly strewn with stones and boulders. This sandy
expanse is the entrance of the pass ; I proceeded
along it.

For some distance it continued tolerably wide and
nearly straight. A succession of hollows along the
centre marked the course of what in the rainy season
was the bed of a torrent. In some of the hollows

212 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

water still remained. For a mile or so the pass con-
tinued so wide and straight that the slope of forest
beyond its entrance remained still visible. Then the
pass narrowed and turned, and the forest became
concealed by the spurs of the mountains. The
scenery of the pass was for some time very interest-
ing. But before I describe the pass I will give a
short account of the range of mountains through
which it leads.

These mountains, known among the English as the
" Shewalic," issue from the Himalaya some ten miles
or so to the eastward of the Ganges. They run for a
short distance in a south-westerly direction, and then
follow a course nearly parallel to the Himalayas to a
point a little to the westward of the Jumna. There
they spread and widen, and again reunite with the
Himalaya. Although the Shewalic mountains appear
to form a portion of the Himalaya, they are in reality
entirely distinct. They are of a different geological
formation, and are considered to be of far greater
antiquity; also, as compared with the Himalaya, they
are both in extent and in altitude altogether insignifi-
cant. Their entire length is not much more than a
hundred miles, their average breadth does not exceed
fifteen miles, while their highest peaks do not quite
reach the elevation of three thousand two hundred feet
above the level of the sea, and hardly that of a thousand
feet above the plains that lie immediately below them.
Between the Shewalic mountains and the Himalaya
lies that valley of the Doon to which I am now pro-
ceeding.

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 213

The term Shewalic, as applied to these mountains,
has only come into use among the English within quite
recent times. It is a term altogether incorrect ; properly
it is the designation of the entire Himalaya, snowy and
lower ranges and these mountains included, that lies to
the westward of the Ganges. As such it is used in-
variably by the native historians, and was by the
English themselves up to the early years of the present
century. By the natives these mountains are termed
the " Mountains of the Passes." They are so termed
from the circumstance that it is through the passes
among them that the roads run which lead to the Doon
and Mussoorie.

The term Shewalic is stated by one of the native
historians to be a combination of the two Hindee words
" sewa " and " lae," the word " sewa " signifying one
and a quarter, and the word " lae " being the term
which expresses the number of one hundred thousand.
The historian further states that the compounded word
" Shewalic " has been used to designate the mountains
of the Western Himalaya, from the belief that these
mountains consisted of one and a quarter lae — that is,
of one hundred and twenty-five thousand — separate
peaks.

I may here mention that the name Himalaya is used
equally incorrectly by the English, and indeed by all
Europeans. The name signifies the " Necklace of
Snow," and applies, strictly speaking, only to the
highest line of mountains, on which the snow never
melts, and not to the lower ranges.

The Shewalic mountains — I mean the range now

214 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

so designated by the English — are perhaps the wildest
in the world. Although hardly more than hills in
elevation, they display in miniature all the features of
the grandest mountains. In passing through them one
beholds an endless succession of sharp, towering peaks,
nearly perpendicular precipices, and a very maze of
little valleys ; and during the season of the rains
through each small valley there runs a little mountain
torrent.

This singular appearance is the result of the geological
formation. That formation is sandstone, and for the
most part sandstone so soft as hardly to deserve the
name of stone. Easily cut by the falling rain or running
water, flaking off from exposure to the atmosphere, it
has in the course of ages been moulded by the elements
into its present fantastic forms.

After this brief description of these mountains, I will
continue my account of my ride through them. For the
first few miles, as I have said, the scenery was very
interesting. It was especially so in contrast with the
monotonous level of the plains through which I had
been previously journeying. As I advanced the pass
narrowed. On either side rose precipices ; they were
not very lofty, but almost absolutely perpendicular.
Composed of bright yellow sandstone, their appearance
was exceedingly picturesque. At short intervals tall
peaks rose behind them, and also long, slanting ridges ;
and these ridges were often interspersed with small,
grass-covered slopes or little patches of green forest.
Occasionally these patches of forest consisted of fir
trees, and their ijreen was of the darkest hue. It

A COLD WEATHER TOUR 215

formed the prettiest contrast to the bright yellow of
the cliffs.

The cliffs themselves, too, were a source of constant
interest. Composed always of the softest sandstone,
they were frequently interspersed with rounded stones
of a harder formation. These stones were of all sizes,
from that of a cricket-ball to quite large boulders.
Some few of the cliffs were so thickly interspersed
with these stones as to suggest the idea of a gigantic
currant cake, from which a perpendicular slice had
been cut.

Occasionally the larger stones were not round, but
long and narrow, and they projected from the face of
the cliff exactly as might the tusks of some fossil
elephant. The resemblance was so exact that on the
first occasion when I traversed the pass I did really
imagine, when I came in sight of these projecting stones,
that they were fossil tusks. It was only on nearer
approach that I became aware of my mistake.

Interesting, however, as the scenery was, after a time
it became wearisome — always the same narrow valley,
the same steep cliffs, and the same ridges and peaks
rising behind them. The valley turned and wound, but
each turn only disclosed a repetition of the same
scenery. One longed to come on some open space,
some stream or waterfall, some field, garden, or human
habitation. It was a relief when at length, after a steep
ascent, we reached the summit of the pass. Peaks and
cliffs there vanished, and we commenced to descend
through a long green slope of forest.

After a mile or two the forest ceased, and I beheld

2i6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

stretched before me, broad and verdant, the beautiful
valley of the Doon. Beyond it, bounding the horizon
from east to west, like a vast unbroken wall, rose the
Himalaya. Presently we came to the cultivated
country ; and there on the margin of a fallow field,
and close adjacent to a small village, I found the carts
unladen and the tents erected. The next morning
I marched on to the little town of Dehra, where I
remained for some few days.

I

CHAPTER XIII.

DEHRA

ALTHOUGH the town of Dehra is well known
to the English in India, I imagine that but few
persons in this country have ever heard of it or of the
valley in which it is situated. A short description of
both may, therefore, be interesting, and this will be
a convenient opportunity for introducing it.

The Doon, or, to give it its full appellation, the
" Dehra Doon," or " Valley of the Tent," is, as I have
already stated, that tract of level ground which lies
between the Himalaya mountains and that offshoot
from them now known among the English as the
Shewalic range. Across the eastern end of the valley
flows the river Ganges, and across it, near to its western
end, flows the Jumna. The space between these two
rivers constitutes the Dehra Doon. The two small
tracts beyond the rivers at either end go by other
designations ; but being mere uninhabited waste and
forest, they do not call for any special mention or
consideration.

The Dehra Doon is about fifty miles in length, and
from twelve to fifteen in breadth. It contains an area
of a little over four hundred thousand acres, of which,

217

2i8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

in my time, rather more than half were forest and
jungle. The valley takes its name from its capital, the
little town of Dehra, which is situated at about the
centre of its length ; and the town is so called because
it was on a spot near adjacent to it that " Gooroo
Nanuck," one of the founders of the Sikh religion, set
up his "dehra," or tent, when, over two centuries ago,
he sought refuge in the valley from the persecutions
of the Mahomedans of the Punjaub.

The valley and a portion of the adjacent mountains
came into the English possession at the conclusion
of the Nepaulese war in 1818. The Nepaulese had
themselves then only recently acquired it. The valley
had previously formed a portion of the territories of
the hill raja of Srinugger. The Doon, when it then
came into our possession, was little more than a
wilderness. What cultivation existed was confined to
the immediate neighbourhood of Dehra and to a
narrow strip extending along the centre of the valley
to the westward. The villages were mere grass huts,
and even Dehra, the capital, with the exception of the
tomb of the Gooroo and the buildings attached to it,
did not possess a single masonry structure. The Doon
of to-day presents a different aspect, and one that
speaks eloquently to the benefits of English domina-
tion.

In beauty or grandeur of scenery the Doon can bear
no comparison with Cashmere. Still it is exceedingly
pretty, especially all that part that surrounds its capital
of Dehra. Embosomed in mountains, lying at an
elevation of over two thousand feet above the sea, it

DEHRA 219

possesses a climate in which the vegetation of the
tropics and some of that of the temperate regions can
equally flourish. Rice, sugarcane, wheat, and red
pepper are cultivated in the fields, while the rose and
the white raspberry grow wild in the hedges. The
mango tree attains a height and girth unknown
elsewhere ; and on the slopes of the mountains are
to be found the walnut tree and the wild apricot. In
the spring-time the fields near the forests are literally
carpeted with a flower much resembling the English
primrose, but larger and of a richer and more brilliant
yellow.

The town of Dehra is ideally pretty. The grass
huts of former days have given place to the neatest
of houses. Many of them are gaily painted, and most
are coated with the beautiful white Indian chunam. A
canal of mountain water flows along the principal
street, falling at intervals in miniature cascades. On
the east of the town there extends a grove of mango
trees, reputed to be the most extensive in Upper India ;
it is said to have consisted originally of no less than
a tenth of a million of trees, and on that account is
known as the " Laci Bagh," or grove of one hundred
thousand ; but of the correctness of this tradition I
was always a little doubtful.

Within the town itself there is a smaller grove ; it
surrounds the tomb of his Holiness the Gooroo Nanuck.
The white dome of the tomb, rising above the trees,
contrasts most pleasingly with their deep green foliage.
Close adjoining the town, on the north, are the canton-
ments and the English station, with its white houses

220 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

and pretty gardens, and beyond them, like a protecting
rampart, rises the long line of the Lower Himalaya.

The especial charm of the town is its smallness and
extreme neatness. Both the town and environs, the
houses, the streets and canal, the parade ground, and
the English gardens and residences have something
of the prettiness of a miniature or a model. The
impression of smallness is heightened by the vastness
of the mountains beneath which the little town seems
to nestle for protection.

Bright and pretty as are the houses of Dehra, there
is only one building in the town that has any pre-
tension to architectural beauty, and this one building
is the tomb of Gooroo ; it is a building of no great
size, and of the ordinary form of Indian mausoleum ;
that is, it consists of a square block placed on a terrace
and surmounted by a dome. The block contains a single
vaulted chamber, and on the pavement of the chamber
rests the monument beneath which the ashes of the
saint repose. In the plains of India the building
would attract but little attention, but situated in this
secluded valley, it becomes an object of interest ; also,
being surrounded only by the smallest of edifices, it
gives to the beholder by contrast a certain impression
of size and grandeur.

The first time that I visited the tomb„ was many
years ago, when I was in charge of the Doon. The
garden that surrounds the tomb is enclosed by a high
brick wall ; the principal gateway faces the east, but
there is a small doorway on the northern side : this
doorway opens on a bare, dusty space where native

DEHRA 221

travellers usually put up. One day near noon I hap-
pened to be crossing this tract ; it was at the end of
the cold season, and the rays of the sun at midday were
becoming powerful. Though protected by a thickly
wadded umbrella, I found them unpleasantly warm ;
also there happened to be a rather large concourse of
travellers. The open space was crowded with men, carts,
and animals, and there was much dust and noise.

As I passed the doorway, I noticed the trees that
rose above the wall. In contrast to the dusty camping-
ground, they looked invitingly green and shady. I
had often intended to visit the tomb ; I now resolved
to do so. One of the attendants of the garden was
standing by ; he opened the door, and I entered. As
I did so, I seemed to have passed into another region :
the glare, the heat, the dust, were left behind, and the
noises without only fell on the ear as a gentle murmur.
The branches of the trees met overhead ; their foliage
formed a green canopy : the sunbeams passing through
it diffused only a soft, misty light. Here and there,
through some opening, there shone a stronger ray
which illumined the thousand motes that floated in
the air.

Accompanied by the attendant, I passed along a
straight raised path ; it presently brought us to an
open space. In the centre of the space, raised on a
broad, high terrace, stood the tomb ; it was a pretty
building, coated with beautiful white chunam, that quite
glistened in the sunshine, and much of the surface was
gaily decorated with paintings representing conventional
foliage and geometrical designs.

222 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

On the terrace, cross-legged, sat three of the priests
of the shrine. Two of them were motionless as statues ;
the third had a large volume lying open on his lap.
From it he was reading ; he read in a sort of chant, and
as he read he swayed his body backwards and forwards
as if to give emphasis to his words ; he read in a
droning tone, but the sound fell on the ear with a
cadence not unmusical ; so also did the humming of
some bees that were lazily flitting in the sunlight. The
shady trees, the pretty building, the chanting of the
priest, and the humming of the bees seemed all in
harmony ; they suggested a place designed for con-
templation and repose. The impression of the tomb
and the garden that I then received I have always since
retained.

The tomb occupies the centre of the garden, which is
square. Around the tomb, but near the four angles of
the garden, are four smaller tombs, tombs, indeed, so
small, that they are mere cupolas. These four tombs are
those of the four wives of the Gooroo Nanuck. Three
of them are decorated with paintings ; the fourth is
simply overlaid with white chunam. This last tomb is
that of the Gooroo's chief wife. According to tradition,
it was left undecorated by her own express injunctions,
and as a mark of her widowhood, white being in the
East the colour of mourning. For the same reason,
the tradition also relates that after the death of her
husband, the Gooroo, she abandoned the use of jewels
and wore no coloured garments.

This cupola, though small, and possessing no especial
architectural beauty, is interesting on another account.

DEHRA 223

It illustrates, and in a most curious manner, the singular
effects sometimes occasioned by earthquakes. On the
occurrence of the great earthquake that took place in
Upper India towards the close of the last century, this
cupola was cracked completely through horizontally ;
and not only was it thus cracked through, but the part
of the tomb above the crack was also twisted round,
and that to the extent, if I remember correctly, of
nearly half a yard. It is not easy to understand by
what succession of movements of the ground this
result could have been effected, nor why the move-
ments that thus split this cupola should have left the
other three cupolas and also the tomb of the Gooroo
entirely unaffected.

The tomb of the Gooroo, like many other of the
Indian mausoleums, is a shrine as well as a place of
sepulture ; services are performed in it daily at various
hours : they consist in the reciting of prayers, the
ringing of bells, and the reading aloud of the
"Grunth," or sacred book of the Sikh religion. It
was from this volume that the priest was reading, as
I have above described, on the occasion of my first
visit. If I remember aright, the services also include
the offering of flowers and the burning of incense.

The services appeared to me to be very scantily
attended ; often there was no worshipper beyond the
priest himself: but then I ought to add that it was but
very rarely that I happened to be in the garden at the
times when the services were going on. Once each
year, however, at the commencement of the hot season,
a religious fair is held ; and then the pilgrims and

224 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

worshippers flock in by thousands, most of them
coming from the Punjaub.

Having described the tomb of the Gooroo, it remains
to say a few words regarding the small monastic estab-
lishment to the members of which the custody of the
tomb is confided ; but this I will reserve to a later
occasion. I will now give an account of what then
was regarded as the most interesting of the sights of
Dehra, namely, the Government tea plantations. They
were situated about a mile from the town of Dehra,
on the other side of a large watercourse, one of a kind
nearly peculiar to the Doon, and there known by the
designation of " roas." For the greater part of the
year these " roas " are mere deep dry gullies or wide
expanses of sand and rounded stones. Along the
centre of some of the broadest, perhaps a tiny stream
may trickle ; but during the rainy season, when a storm
occurs in the mountains, then presently the roas become
each a raging torrent.

I shall presently give some further account of the
"roas," but just now I will proceed on to the tea planta-
tions, and will conduct with me in imagination the
reader as well.

The plantations — I am describing them as they then
existed — were very large, extending over an area of
several hundred acres ; they were also exceedingly
pretty, so pretty, indeed, that they always seemed to
almost realize one's childish conception of fairyland.
There were fruit trees of all kinds, green lawns, hedges
of aloes and hedges covered with roses, beds full of the
gayest of flowers, long, low white buildings that glistened

DEHRA 225

in the sunshine, and everywhere small canals and water-
courses, through which flowed the clear, sparkling water
of some mountain torrent. Furthermore, to complete
the resemblance, not far away, though out of sight, ran
a little river, in whose sandy bed were mingled grains of
gold. I did not on the present occasion encamp in the
plantations, but many years ago, when in charge of the
Doon, I had once done so ; and I look back to that
time as one of the pleasantest of all my Indian life.
The climate was so delicious, the scenery so charming,
no wind, no dust, no unpleasant heat or glare, always
bright sunshine and a clear blue sky.

The superintendent of the plantation was absent, and
had allowed us to occupy his bungalow ; our camp was
pitched on the lawn before it. The lawn was very
spacious, and was dotted over with mango trees, the
remnants of what at some former time had been an
extensive grove. These trees were of great age and
of enormous size; the largest of all stood near the centre
of the lawn, and in the afternoons we used often to sit
and have our tea beneath it. I had the trunk of this
tree carefully measured ; the measurement was made
a good yard from the ground, and well above the
projections of the roots : the circumference of the
tree was there more than twenty-two feet. From
thence the trunk rose in a clear unbroken column to
the height of about twenty- five or thirty feet, w^hen
it threw out in all directions its massive branches.
The branches and foliage formed a wide, spreading
canopy, through which neither sunshine nor any but
the most long-continued rain could penetrate.
Q

226 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

This mango tree was the largest I ever beheld. In
the adjacent groves, however, there were many that
in girth and spread of branches were but little inferior.
One I especially remember. It grew in a field about
a mile distant ; its trunk, well above the projections of
the roots, measured some inches over eighteen feet in
circumference ; and it towered up without curve or
bend, almost as straight as a pine, to the height of near
forty feet, I should say, before it threw out a single
branch.

Of all the Indian trees the mango as it here appears
is beyond compare the most beautiful. Its form is so
graceful, its bark so smooth and clean, and the green of
its foliage so deep and rich. In the early spring the
beauty of the foliage is enhanced by its variety of tint,
for while the matured leaves are of the darkest green,
the young leaves just expanding are in colour of a
reddish brown. The contrast of colour, perfectly har-
monious, is most charming. I should add, however,
that it is only in the Doon that the mango tree is seen
in this perfection, The mango tree in the plains is,
both in size and beauty, much inferior, though still,
there as here, the queen of the groves.

Although the mango tree is so characteristic of
India, and is found everywhere in such profusion, I
have always been assured by the natives that it is not
indigenous to the soil, at least of Hindostan, and also
that it never here grows wild, and that of all the
millions of mango trees now existing each one has
been separately planted.

I may explain, for the benefit of the reader, that

DEHRA 227

the large mango tree of the groves, the tree that I
have been describing, is quite distinct from the small
mango tree of the gardens, which bears the celebrated
fruit. This last, the fruit tree, is a grafted tree, and
does not exceed in size the lemon or orange tree. The
large mango tree of the groves also bears a fruit, but
it is one of a very inferior description — small and
suffused with a flavour resembling turpentine. Though
to a European taste almost uneatable, the fruit is
much appreciated by the poorer classes of natives, so
much so, that the sale of the fruit yields a considerable
income to the proprietors of the larger groves.

But to return to my stay at the plantations.

Most pleasantly the time went by. In the early
morning we rode or walked ; in the day I had my
office work ; towards sunset we strolled about the
gardens or sat on the lawn. The view was one which
I was never weary of contemplating. Behind us rose
the great wall of the Himalaya ; before us lay the
valley, just then an expanse of ripening crops, prettily
dotted over with groves of trees and small villages ;
beyond, and bounding the horizon, stretched the long
green forest slope that led up to the Shewalics. It was
behind the slope that the sun set ; but for long after
the sun had set for us he continued to shine on the
Himalaya. Slowly, gradually, the shadows crept up
the mountains, so slowly that the highest peaks still
glowed with ruddy light when all the valley around us
was wrapped in twilight gloom. With the dark the air
grew cold. We left the lawn for the bungalow, dined,
and spent the evening by a fire of blazing logs.

228 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

It was when thus encamped in the plantation that
I made acquaintance with tlie tea-plant, and witnessed
the process by which its leaves are prepared. Some
account of the plant, of its leaves, and the mode of
their preparation may perhaps be interesting to the
reader. The tea-plant is one of the prettiest of shrubs.
The stem and branches are so smooth and clean, the
leaves so green and glossy ; and then in the spring-
time it bears a delicate white flower, something re-
sembling a miniature camellia. If allowed to do so,
the plant will grow to a height of ten or twelve feet ;
and there were several of this size then in the planta-
tion, but these formed separate clumps, and were
kept for seed or for ornament. The ordinary plants,
those whose leaves were to be made into tea, were kept
by clipping to a size not much exceeding that of
gooseberry bushes.

The leaves were picked in the spring, that is towards
the end of the cold season. The picking occupied a
period of some weeks, and while it lasted the plantation
presented a scene of the busiest activity. The leaf-
pickers, I may mention, were mostly women, and they
were employed by hundreds, certainl}' by many scores
and scores. The leaves were picked in succession, ac-
cording to their size and age, for on the age and size of
the leaf depended the quality of the tea it would pro-
duce: the finest tea was that prepared from the youngest,
and consequently the smallest, leaves ; the coarsest tea
was that made from the leaves which were the oldest
and largest. After a certain age and size the leaves
were no longer fit for manufacture at all.

DEHRA 229

Between the finest and coarsest qualities there were
several gradations. All were indicated by different
Chinese-sounding designations. The coarsest and most
inferior tea, that prepared from the largest leaves, was
the Congo ; the tea of the first excellence, made from
the very youngest and smallest leaves, was that termed
"fine Souchong." As the leaves were picked they
were carried away in baskets to the factories, those
long white buildings I have already alluded to. There
they were piled in great heaps on the floors, each quality
of leaf having a heap or heaps of its own. The leaves
being now picked and piled in heaps, next followed the
operation of drying, or, as it was technically termed,
of " firing," them. The operation was thus conducted.

Down each side of the long building was a row of
small, square masonry structures. They were built
close against the wall, a few feet apart from each other,
and, with their flat tops, they had much the appearance
of altars. A large iron bowl was let into the surface
of each, and in the recess below was a fire that heated
it. Into these iron bowls the leaves were emptied,
and allowed to remain till perfectly dry, all the while
being constantly moved and stirred by an attendant
with a long, thin iron rod. When the drying was
completed the leaves had assumed that curled, shrivel-
led appearance with which all drinkers of tea are
familiar.

The process of the drying seemed to the last degree
simple and easy ; nevertheless I was told that it re-
quired for its proper performance much experience,
skill, and also a certain amount of manual dexterity,

230 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

besides extreme care and attention. If the firing was
too quick or too slow, or too long continued, or in any
point defective, then, however excellent the leaf, the
flavour of the tea would prove defective.

When the plantations were first established the
operation of " firing " was performed only by Chinese,
who had been brought from China for the purpose.
It was now, at the time I am describing, done almost
entirely by natives of India, whom the Chinese had
instructed. A little of the " firing " was, however, still
conducted by Chinese, and then as they bent over the
bowls in their long robes and quaint -looking caps,
slowly stirring the leaves with the thin iron rods, they
had much the aspect of necromancers in the act of
performing incantations.

I used often to stroll into the factories when the
preparation of the tea was going on, and in the course
of my visits I learnt the answer to a question that
in former days used to be much debated in England.
It was whether black and green tea were produced
from the leaves of the same or of different plants.
I learnt that the leaves are the same. The difference
in the teas is the result of the difference of preparation.
The black tea leaves are simply fired ; those of the
green tea are previously damped and allowed to slightly
ferment.

When the firing was completed the tea was carried
to another building and there stored ; it was subse-
quently packed in tin cases and boxes of various sizes.
The boxes were covered with yellow paper, ornamented
with characters and designs of Chinese appearance.

DEHRA 231

The tea when packed was kept in store for three years
before it was disposed of, for till that period had expired
it was not considered to be fit for consumption.

Having described the process of " firing " the tea, I
must say a few words regarding the bowls in which
it was conducted. They were always pointed out to
visitors as great curiosities, for, though made of cast-
iron, they had all the appearance of being formed of
the finest beaten copper ; they were equally thin
and delicate, and with surfaces similarly smooth and
even. They were imported from China, for neither
in India, nor even in England, was the secret of their
manufacture understood.

The plantations had been established, and were
carried on, by the Government, not for profit, but with
the object of introducing the cultivation of tea among
the natives of the Doon, and elsewhere where the
climate was favourable. The establishments were
consequently conducted with a liberality and at an
expense which for private firms would have been
hardly possible. The result was the production of a
tea not now, I imagine, easily attainable. The tea
when made much resembled that described by former
travellers as made especially in China for the Emperor
and the highest nobles.

In colour it was a pale yellow, and when poured out
diffused all around a most agreeable aroma. I must
add, however, that till one had become accustomed
to it the flavour to an English taste was not agreeable.
The tea was also extremely dear. The price at the
plantations for the very finest qualities was as much

232 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

as three and a half rupees, equivalent then to seven
shillings a pound.

The endeavours of the Government to introduce the
tea cultivation among the natives, though long continued,
proved entirely unavailing. The inducements held out
were extremely liberal. The Government offered to
supply seed to all who would accept it, and that without
charge, and also to purchase the leaves at a fair price
when the plants were grown, and themselves manufacture
the tea, but all in vain. The natives of the Doon and the
surrounding hills had no religious or caste objection to
the cultivation, but it was new, and it would involve
trouble ; and the profit, they thought, might not be
sufficient to compensate them for the trouble. So they
preferred to continue to till their lands as had their
fathers before them, to sow the same seeds and to
gather in the same harvests.

Some few of the larger landowners accepted the seed
that the Government offered, but they did so merely as
an act of deference and respect. They had no intention
whatever of seriously undertaking the cultivation ; they
planted the seed so carelessly that much of it never
came up, and that which did they so neglected that the
young plants all sooner or later withered and died.
Others — but this was in the hills further to the east —
ensured the failure of the cultivation in a simpler and
surer manner : before planting the seeds they previously
boiled them.

I endeavoured to overcome their objections by show-
ing them that tea would grow on the waste lands, where
there was at present only coarse grass and brushwood.

DEHRA 233

With this object I had three or four small patches of
land cleared and dug up in different places on the slopes
of the hills, and in these I had tea seeds planted. As
far as the tea was concerned, the experiment was a great
success. The seeds all came up, and not only that, but
they produced plants so strong and healthy as to call
forth the high approbation of the superintendent of the
plantations. But the success of the experiment had no
influence on the landowners.

They possessed hundreds and thousands of acres of
such waste land, but they preferred that it should remain
waste sooner than they should have the trouble of
planting it with tea. The Indian tea cultivation, now
so extensive, owes its development entirely to European
energy.

But though the natives would not cultivate tea,
they were very partial to drinking it, especially the
Mahomedans. When I left India a large portion of
the tea produced in the Doon was purchased by native
merchants, and exported to the Punjaub and Cashmere.
The tea most preferred was the green.

I have mentioned that the road from the town of
Dehra to the plantations crosses the bed of one of
those singular watercourses termed raos. Of these raos
I will now continue my account.

The base of the Himalayas for the entire length of
the Doon is everywhere broken by recesses. Many of
these recesses are the openings of what may be termed
valleys or gorges, running high up the mountain-side :
others are little more than mere indentations ; but at
the mouth of every recess — whether it be valley, gorge,

234 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

or mere indentation — there is a " rao," and the size and
form of the " rao " is ahvays in proportion to the
smallness or magnitude of the recess.

The raos at the mouths of the valleys and larger
gorges are wide and shallow, and along them a stream
trickles, or even a small river flows. On the other hand,
the raos before the mere indentations are deep and
narrow, and, except after a fall of rain in the mountains,
their beds are dry.

At the immediate base of the mountains the small
raos are very numerous ; I should say — speaking, how-
ever, merely from memory — that one occurs at a
distance of every two or three hundred yards. These
smaller raos, however, rapidly unite, and eventually
merge into the larger raos ; and these larger raos, after
traversing the slope of the valley, merge into the beds
of the rivers which flow along the length of the Doon
to east and west, and empty their waters into the
Ganges and the Jumna.

The narrow raos, though usually dry, occasionally,
especially during the rainy season, carry along an
immense body of water, for after a storm in the
mountains the rain that has fallen on miles and miles
of steep hillside is suddenly poured into the rao at
the base ; and owing to the slope of the land, this
volume of water is borne along with extreme force
and rapidity. Dashing alternately from side to side,
it eventually cuts portions of the banks away ; these
narrow raos are in consequence continually widening.

They widen in a singular manner : the torrents do
not so much cut away the banks as undermine them.

DEHRA 235

The first indication of the undermining is the appearance
of a crack in the ground on the side of the rao. The crack
is sometimes quite close to the edge; occasionally it
appears at a distance of several yards; but, whether near
or distant, the crack generally runs more or less parallel
to the bank. The appearance of the crack is followed
by a slight subsidence of the ground between it and
the rao ; the subsidence increases ; eventually the whole
mass of soil slides into the rao and is swept away by
the torrent. Owing to the nature of the ground, the
new bank is nearly always precipitous. The area of the
soil thus carried away is not generally of any great
extent. I have, however, known of cases where it must
have amounted to nearly half an acre.

As this process goes on continuously, it follows that
in course of ages the present surface of the slope of the
Doon at the base of the Himalayas will be entirely
swept away ; but the ground below the present surface
is composed of coarse gravel, sand, and boulder-stones.
It may take centuries before these, after disintegration
by the elements, become capable of supporting a
vegetation. During this long period, in place of the
present verdant forests, there will appear only a dreary
expanse of sterile, stony desert.

I have spoken of the violence of the torrents that at
times sweep through these raos and of the suddenness
with which they descend. Of their suddenness and
violence I will give two examples.

Once during the rainy season, at the time when I had
charge of the Doon, I set off one afternoon to visit a
village some few miles from Dchra. As the road lay

236 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

partly through a forest, I went on an elephant. Pre-
sently I came to a rao; it was deep, and had precipitous
sides, but was tolerably wide ; it was also nearly dry. I
crossed it, visited the village, and returned. About an
hour and a half had elapsed when on my way back I
reached the rao ; but in the meantime there had been
a heavy downpour of rain in the mountains. I found
the rao now half filled with water ; the water \\'as at
least five feet deep, and was flowing with a force that
only an elephant could have withstood.

The other case was even more remarkable ; it
occurred in the rao I have already mentioned as lying
between Dehra and the tea plantations. Lower down
this rao widens considerably, to the extent, I should
say, of over a quarter of a mile. At this part the high-
road from Dehra to the Jumna crosses the rao. Now
it happened one morning during the rainy season that
a small covered cart drawn by two bullocks was pro-
ceeding along the road over the rao ; inside the cart
were a woman and a child. When the cart entered it
the rao was nearly dry, but before the cart reached the
other side a rush of water from the mountains came down.
The cart was overturned, and, with its occupants and
the two bullocks and their driver, it was swept away
and carried down the rao for the distance of about half
a mile, and there left stranded as the flood rushed on.
The driver, the two bullocks, and the woman and child
were all drowned.

After these examples of the violence of the torrents
in the Doon during the rains, I will give an illustration
of the rapid growth of vegetation during the same

DEHRA 237

season. Towards the end of the cold weather one year
we were encamped by a village not far from the tea
plantations. Our camp was pitched on a smooth tract
of ground close adjoining to a small strip of forest.
Not more than four or five months afterwards, in the
course of the ensuing rains, I had occasion to pass the
spot. To my astonishment, I found that what had so
lately been all open space was now a tall, thick copse,
so tall and thick that, had I not been mounted on
an elephant, I should have been hardly able to pass
through^it.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE BOON

WHILE encamped in the plantation I was waited
on by all the chief inhabitants of Dehra. As
in duty bound, they called at intervals to pay their
respects. Among the rest who presented themselves
was the " mohunt," the head of the little monastic
establishment founded by the Gooroo Nanuck, and to
whom the care and custody of his tomb had been
confided.

The mohunt paid his first visit in state, and with
all observance of the prescribed etiquette. He sent
notice the previous day of his intention to call, re-
ceived my permission to do so, and then at the hour
appointed he arrived on his elephant, accompanied by
his confidential priest and one or two other attendants.
His next visit was less ceremonious. But before I
describe the visit or the events which occasioned it
I must give a short account of the mohunt himself
and the establishment over which he presided.

The society consisted of about twenty monks, but
there may have been more. At the head of them, of
course, was the mohunt. Next to him in rank and
authority was his heir apparent. The heir apparent,
like the mohunt, had a designation, but what it was

238

THE DOON 239

I do not remember. There were four other officials
of inferior dignity who also bore the title of mohunt;
the remainder were ordinary priests. The fraternity
did not reside together. The mohunt had a rather
fine dwelling, close adjacent to the garden of the
tomb. The rest lived where they pleased in the city.
Their houses, however, mostly belonged to the estab-
lishment, and were passed on, as each monk died, to
his successor.

The religious calm that had so impressed me at the
tomb did not extend to its guardians. The community
was full of quarrel and dissension. Want of discipline
was partly the cause, but chiefly the distribution of the
revenues. The mohunt was rich, at least as riches
were then regarded in the Doon ; and so in a less
degree was the heir apparent. The four lower officials
were in just comfortable circumstances ; the rest of
the monks were poor, many of them in absolute
indigence. This state of things naturally caused dis-
content, and the more so because it was not believed
to be in accordance with the intentions of the founder.

In a Christian monastery any monk may hope to be
abbot, but by these monks no such expectation could
be indulged in. The mohunt was succeeded by the
heir apparent, and the heir apparent was chosen when
a lad from the outside, something in the manner as is
the Grand Lama of Thibet. The rules for the selection
were never explained to me ; the area for it was wide.
The then mohunt was a native of some village in the
Himalaya beyond Mussoorie. The heir apparent had
been brought from the further confines of the Punjaub.

240

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

The revenues of the monastery were derived partly
from lands bequeathed by the Gooroo, but principally
from the offerings made by the pilgrims at the great
annual fair. This fair was held at the end of the
cold season, and was attended by many thousands of
persons, chiefly from the Punjaub. All who came
made an offering, and those who were rich offered
largely. The amount received must have been con-
siderable. I have heard it estimated, when the attend-
ance was exceptionally large, at a lac of rupees ; but
this was a mere guess, for it was a subject on which
both the mohunt and his subordinates maintained an
extreme reticence.

The mohunt was a man of about sixty years of age.
He was very homely in appearance, quite illiterate,
and, notwithstanding his sacerdotal position, not in
the least devotional. The spiritual concerns of the
monastery he left to the priests ; the secular affairs he
mostly allowed the heir apparent to manage. Although
on bad terms with his monks, he was greatly liked by
the people in general. Indeed, in his amiability and
extreme simplicity of character there was something
very attractive even to Europeans.

The heir apparent was less popular. He was better
educated than the mohunt, but not in the least more
spiritual. He was said — rather an inappropriate occu-
pation for a priest — to carry on privately a money-
lending concern, and as the interest he charged was
high, and he was rigorous in exacting it, the belief
did not add to his popularity. He had at one time
also acquired the reputation of being too gay ; but

THE DOON 241

the attendance of the pilgrims, and with it the amount
of the offerings, falling off in consequence, he had since
conducted himself with more decorum. He was then
about thirty years of age, and, in the Sikh style, very
good-looking.

The mohunt, the heir apparent, and the other mem-
bers of the fraternity all wore a peculiar-looking head-
dress. It was a tall, conical cap, in shape much
resembling an extinguisher, and having, in like manner,
round the base a similar raised border. The cap worn
by the mohunt was of the same shape as the rest, but
was distinguished by its superior materials and its
ornamentations of gold embroidery. The mohunt also
wore on his wrists a very massive pair of solid gold
bangles. The rest of his attire was extremely plain,
and also, cap included, not a little shabby. The gold
bangles had descended to him from his predecessors,
and judging from its appearance, so, I think, must
have the cap as well. The gold embroidery was black
with age, and the material beneath dirty and faded to
the last degree. I often, but unsuccessfully, endeavoured
to persuade him to provide himself with a new head-
dress. At length, as I shall subsequently relate, I had
one prepared myself, and presented to him as a mark
of my regard.

The disputes in the monastery had been going on for
years. Now, at the time I was encamped in the
plantation, they arrived at a crisis, and it was this that
caused the mohunt to pay me the second and un-
announced visit. It was not long after breakfast ; I
was in my office-room, when a servant came in and
R

242

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

informed me that the mohunt had arrived, and that he
had arrived on foot, and desired to see me on a matter
of great importance. The servant had hardly finished
speaking when the mohunt entered. He entered leaning
on the arm of his confidential priest, and followed by an
attendant.

The mohunt's countenance wore an expression of
much distress. The priest and the attendant con-
ducted him to a chair. Sighing deeply, he sank on
it, and then by a motion of his hand he signified to
the priest to address me. On this the priest, stand-
ing by the chair, commenced a most elaborate and
complicated narrative. The narrative was rendered
the more complicated by the mohunt's many inter-
ruptions and suggestions. In the end, and only after
considerable questioning, I made out the following
story.

There was a dispute between the mohunt and one of
his monks as to the ownership of a house in the town,
one of those houses that belonged to the monastery.
The mohunt had gone that morning to claim the rent
or to perform some other act that would indicate
possession. The monk presently followed for a similar
purpose. As a matter of course, an altercation ensued ;
other monks and some bystanders joined in. Both
sides became excited. The monk had a stick in his
hand ; he raised it and struck the mohunt a violent
blow with it on the side of his head. The mohunt had
come to me for redress.

At this point of the narrative the mohunt directed
towards me an appealing look ; his eyes filled with

THE DOON 243

tears, and with one hand he slightly raised his cap. As
he did so, the priest pointed out the place where the
stick had alighted, and called my attention to the bruise
and swelling which had resulted.

I consoled the mohunt as best I could, and suggested
that he might prosecute the priest, or sue him for
damages; and then, as his return on foot was hardly
consistent with his dignity, I had him conveyed home
in my own palanquin, and accompanied by a becoming
escort of my own guards and attendants.

After much hesitation — for natives of position dislike
extremely entering the criminal courts — the mohunt
decided to prosecute, and, the case being proved, the
monk was punished. His punishment had the effect of
procuring for the mohunt a little more outward deference
from his subordinates ; but the dissensions and ill-
feeling continued the same as before. It was at this
time, and as a sort of consolation, that I presented the
mohunt with the new cap.

When completed it proved exceedingly handsome ;
the materials were of the best, and I had taken especial
pains that the embroidery should be worked with thread
of real gold. Before ordering the cap, I obtained from
the mohunt an assurance that he would wear it, and this
assurance he carried out : he wore the cap so long as he
lived, and after his death it descended with the gold
bangles to his successor, the then heir apparent. Some
years afterwards, when I had long left the Doon, I re-
ceived a visit from him when I was staying at Mussoorie.
He had on his wrists the gold bangles, and on his head,
the brilliancy of its embroidery a little softened by

244 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

time, I recognized the cap I had presented to his
predecessor.

I will conclude my account of the monastery by
remarking that, though Gooroo Nanuck was himself
the husband of four wives, neither the mohunts, his
successors, nor the monks who represented his dis-
ciples were permitted any. This obligation to celibacy
was, however, from all I heard, but very lightly
regarded.

Having now described the tea plantations, the town
of Dehra, and the monastery, I will give a short
account of the Doon itself, and first of its history.
Of this, previous to the arrival of Gooroo Nanuck, next
to nothing authentic is known. It has been supposed by
some Indian archseologists that a great city once stood
within the Doon near the banks of the Jumna. The
idea is based on the statements of a Chinese traveller
who visited India about the period of the Christian
era, but as to its correctness I am very incredulous.
There are no traditions of such a city, nor any re-
mains, nor any indications whatever of its having
ever existed.

On the further side of the river there is, however,
a curious relic of remote antiquity ; it is a large boulder
stone, completely covered with inscriptions. The stone
is of roundish shape, and of considerable size, some six
or seven feet perhaps in diameter ; it lies not very far
from the river, in a tract of ground covered with stones
and drift and overgrown with jungle. The inscriptions
are in some unknown character ; in appearance they
something resemble those on the column of Feroze

THE DOON 245

Shah at Delhi. Nothing is known of the history of
the boulder, nor is there any tradition as to when, why,
or by whom the inscriptions on it were engraved.

Although there is no tradition of the former existence
of any large city in the Doon, there is a universal belief
among its inhabitants that the valley was at one time
much more thickly populated than it is at present. The
tales related are manifest exaggerations ; whether there
is any fragment of truth underlying them I cannot say.

Since the time of Gooroo Nanuck the Doon has had
a recorded history, but it is a history very eventless.
Cut off by the forests and mountains from the world
beyond, the inhabitants passed their days in a sleepy
calm; the seasons came, the seasons went; the villagers
sowed their crops and reaped their harvests : only the
annual fair broke the monotony of their lives. Two
centuries thus passed avvay, and then came the Ne-
paulese invasion. The story of the invasion, as I had
heard it, always impressed me as full of romance. The
Nepaulese army burst suddenly into the valley of
Sreenugger. Driven from his capital, the Raja, Shuder-
shun Suhai, took refuge in the Doon ; there he collected
his scattered troops, fought another battle, sustained
another defeat. Accompanied by a few horsemen,
followed by the enemy, he made his way along the
valley to one of the western passes ; through this he
escaped, and reached the English territory. Then
followed long years of dreary exile, embittered by
penury and for ever disappointed hopes ; in the end,
unexpected restoration to his dominions and a remain-
ing life of wealth and prosperity.

246

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

But afterwards, when marching among the villages,
I arrived at one where I was told that a very aged man
resided who had witnessed all these events, and would
be able to describe them. I sent for the old man, and,
with a good deal of questioning, obtained his story.
I am sorry to say that, if correct, it took from mine
much of its poetry. The Raja, he said, left Sreenugger
as soon as he learnt that the Nepaulese were approach-
ing it. When he reached the Doon he summoned all
the villagers ; none of them wanted to go, but some
did, and he among them. When the Nepaulese ap-
peared they ran away. There was some fighting, but
very little, and he did not know that the Raja took any
part in it ; he went away quite leisurely, and nobody
pursued him. But perhaps the old man's account was
as much too prosaic as in my fancy the events had been
overcoloured.

The old man's recollections went back well into the
last century, but he could tell me very little that was
interesting ; his memory was almost entirely occupied
with petty events that had occurred in his own and the
neighbouring villages. I asked him when he first heard
of the English. '' Oh, that was when he was very
young ; they were then far away down at Benares."
Then I inquired what he had heard about them. The
answer was unexpected and amusing. " People said,"
he replied, " that their horses had no tails, nor their
swords any handles." The tailless horses were, of
course, the closely docked ones of that day ; and the
swords, I imagine, must have been the dress swords
then worn, whose handles had no guards.

THE DOON 247

The old man went on to tell about the first Europeans
he had seen, and here he grew animated, and his recol-
lections were really interesting. Once, he said, when
he was a very young man, a Mahratta army suddenly
entered the Doon through one of the western passes ;
they marched on to near Dehra, and there they
encamped. In the camp there were two European
children ; they were very fair, and had long light,
curling hair; they were so pretty that all the villagers
far and near flocked in to see them, and brought pieces
of sugarcane to give them. He went among the rest.
The Mahratta army remained encamped for some
days, and then it left as suddenly as it had entered.
Why it came and where it went to he did not know,
neither could he tell me to whom the two children
belonged.

But to return to my history. The Nepaulese, or, as
they were then more generally termed, the Goorkhas,
held possession of the Doon for some years ; then, in
the same manner as they had driven out the Raja of
Sreenugger, so were they in turn driven out by the
English, but not without a struggle. The English army
was commanded by Sir Rollo Gillespie, a most gallant
soldier, and regarded also as a capable general. A
little to the eastward of the town of Dehra a long,
low spur of hill runs out from the Himalaya. On the
extremity of this hill the Goorkhas had erected a fort.
When the English army entered the Doon into this fort
the Goorkhas retired. Sir Rollo Gillespie advanced to
attack it.

The attack on Kalunga — for so this fort was named —

248 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

was in former days an event very celebrated in the
annals of our Indian wars ; it is now almost entirely
forgotten. A very brief account of it may therefore,
perhaps, prove interesting. I describe the occur-
rences as I have heard them narrated by officers
who had themselves been present and taken part in
them.

It was arranged by Sir Rollo that the fort should
be attacked at the same time by three different
divisions and at three different points. The signal for
the attack was to be the firing of a gun, and the gun
was to be fired from the head of the division which Sir
Rollo himself was to lead. The time fixed for the
attack was the early morning. The morning dawned,
the gun was fired, and Sir Rollo's division commenced
to move, but it seemed doubtful if the other divisions
had heard the report of the gun ; it turned out that
they had not. Sir Rollo was entreated to fire a second
gun and meanwhile to delay his own advance. He
would do neither.

His division, headed by English soldiers, moved on
unsupported. There was other mismanagement. On
reaching the fort the troops found themselves in front
of a wall which they had no means of ascending ; there
they stood exposed to the fire of the Goorkhas above,
and this fire from their position they were unable to
return. I was told that, in their rage and despair, the
soldiers beat at the wall with the butts of their muskets
and dug their bayonets into it between the joining of
the stones. It was a position where courage could avail
nothing. There was no course save to retreat ; but

I

THE DOON 249

before the retreat was ordered many had fallen, and
among them Sir Rollo himself. He fell shot dead by
a ball from a matchlock.

A second attack was arranged, but in the meantime
a discovery was made which rendered it unnecessary.
There was no spring or well within the fort. The
Goorkhas depended for their supply of water on a
stream at some little distance without ; the stream was
conveyed to the fort by a small channel cut in the hill-
side ; this channel was accidentally found, and the
stream diverted. Without a supply of water the fort
was untenable. In the course of the night the Goorkhas
abandoned it ; in the morning the fort was found empty,
and the Goorkhas in full retreat and already far away
among the mountains.

The English officers and soldiers who fell in the
attack on the fort were buried in the plain before it.
The white monuments erected over their graves can
be seen from some of the houses at Dehra. Con-
nected with these graves there is related a rather
ghastly story. The dead were buried hastily and
without coffins, wrapped only in their cotton quilted
bed coverlets. In the hurry their graves were dug none
too deep. A few days after it was noticed that the
ground all around the graves was strewed over with
small white fragments. An examination was made,
and it was then discovered that some animals had
burrowed down to the bottom of one of the shallow
graves, had dragged up the corpse or portions of it,
and devoured them. The white fragments that had
attracted attention were those of the cotton wool of

250 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the coverlet in which the body had been wrapped. The
animals were a species of badger, styled among Euro-
peans, from its habits, as the gravedigger.

Sir Rollo Gillespie was a man of extreme courage, and
also of unusual bodily strength. Of his courage and
strength I have either heard or read the following story.
At some fair in Bengal a tiger that was being exhibited
had escaped from its cage. There was wald confusion.
Sir Rollo happened to be present. He was riding
an Arab horse, which he had trained to perfectly obey
him ; he had in his hand a spear — one of those short-
handled, exceedingly sharp-bladed spears used in wild
boar hunting. The tiger lay crouched on the ground ;
Sir Rollo rode up and made his horse leap over it. As
the horse rose in his leap Sir Rollo dug down his spear,
and with such force that the tiger rolled over dead,
pierced through and through.

CHAPTER XV.
THE BOON CONTINUED

THE war with Nepaul, like most mountain wars, was
long and tedious. It ended in the defeat of the
Nepaulese, and the territory they had recently acquired
in the Himalayas passed under the English rule. The
greater part was restored to the various rajas whom
the Nepaulese had driven out; but some portions our
Government retained in its own immediate possession,
and among these was the Doon, that first range of the
Himalayas which bounds it on the north, and also a
small mountain tract which has always been connected
with the Doon, and which lies just beyond the Jumna to
the west.

The climate on this first range of the Himalayas
approaches in coolness to that of England. It is
singular, therefore, that, though so easily accessible,
these mountains remained for fully ten years in our
possession before any English thought of resorting to
them for either health or relaxation. The reason, I
have heard, was this. The mountains of Central India,
covered with wood and jungle, were known to be deadly
unhealthy. It was supposed that these mountains,
similarly forest-clad, would be the same ; the discovery

251

252 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

that they were not was due, so I have been told, to the
potato.

The Doon was then under charge of the colonel who
commanded the regiment at Dehra. The colonel was
an Irishman, and fond of potatoes. He had received
some of superior quality, and was considering where to
plant them. Some men from the hills were present.
They recommended the upper part of the range, for all
about there, they said, the potatoes grew remarkably
well. The colonel ascended the range to select a spot,
and there he found a climate so cool and delightful that
he remained and erected a house. His example was
followed, and the stations of Landour and Mussoorie
presently arose.

The potato at first flourished extremely well in the
Himalaya ; but it afterwards underwent a curious
change. Its shape from oval became long and ir-
regular, and its skin thick, dark, and rough, and its
taste slightly sweetish. In short, it appeared as if it
was approximating towards that native root termed
by Europeans the "yam," or sweet potato. It was
remarkable that no such change occurred among the
potatoes cultivated in the plains. On the contrary,
they gradually improved very much, both in size and
quality.

The introduction of the potato has been one of the
many benefits which our rule has conferred on India;
but it is a benefit that at first it was by no means
certain that the Hindoo part of the population would
accept. The potato was new ; doubts were entertained
if it would be lawful to eat it. To determine the point,

THE DOON 253

so I have been informed, a conference of Brahmins was
assembled, and, fortunately for the country, after much
debate a decision was given in favour of the potato.
The turnip, introduced about the same time, was less
successful. As an article of food its use was prohibited ;
and yet for what reason, in all my long residence in
India, I never met a Hindoo who could inform me, or
indeed who was himself aware.

The potato has certainly only come into use among
the natives of India under our rule. It is curious,
therefore, that it should be mentioned by Terry, the
chaplain to the embassy sent by our James I. to the
Emperor Jehangire. Terry was present at a dinner
given to the Ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, by the then
Prime Minister, Asof Khan, brother to the celebrated
Lady Noor Jehan. Terry describes the various dishes
that appeared rather elaborately, and among others he
mentions potatoes, and he remarks that they were
exceedingly well cooked. Possibly Terry mistook for
the potato that somewhat similar - tasting root, the
" yam."

Hindoo prejudices suggest Hindoo customs. And this
leads me to mention a very singular custom that here
prevails, not in the Doon itself, but in that small
mountain tract which, as I have mentioned, is attached
to the Doon, and lies beyond the Jumna. I first
became aware of the custom when I was encamped
just at the base of the mountains, and was holding a
trial. A witness in the case mentioned his father.
The writer who was recording his deposition inquired,
"Which father?" The witness replied, "My eldest

254

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

father." Seeing my look of surprise, the head of the
office then explained. He informed me that in that
region the brothers of a family have among them but
one wife. The woman whom the eldest brother
marries becomes also the wife of the other brothers,
and the children who may be born regard all the
brothers as equally their fathers, distinguishing them
according to their age, as thus : eldest, second, or other
father.

This custom of " polyandrism," as it is termed, pre-
vails in other parts of the Himalaya, also, I believe,
in some places in Southern India ; and it is supposed
to have prevailed in past ages even in Europe. Many
theories have been advanced to account for the exist-
ence of the custom in these mountains and elsewhere
in the Himalaya, but none of these theories are satis-
factory, for they leave altogether unexplained one
remarkable fact. It is this. The custom prevails
only in small isolated tracts such as this, but it is
utterly unknown in all the extensive regions by
which these small tracts are surrounded, and yet the
populations where the custom exists, and where it
does not, are of the same race, of the same re-
ligion, and live under precisely the same conditions
of life.

It might be supposed that the custom, to our ideas
so repellent, would have a deteriorating moral effect
on the people among whom it prevailed ; but, so far
as I saw and heard, this did not appear to me to be
the case. The people of this small tract were not
more criminal, nor, so far as I could ascertain, in any

THE DOON 255

way inferior, either in behaviour or in character, to the
populations around them.

The existence of this and of other dissimilar marriage
customs in the same country, and among practically the
same people, afforded a curious spectacle, and one that
suggested many reflections. We had, though this was
afterwards, a nurse for our little girl ; she was a woman
from these mountains. She was quiet and modest in
manner, by her fellow- servants well thought of; yet she
had five husbands, and all were brothers. The head
of my guard was a Mahomedan, a man of excellent
character, much esteemed, but he had four wives.
Then among the office establishment there was a native
Christian, to whom but one wife was permissible.

Here then in this small territory, among people of
the same race, and living under the same general laws,
there were on this subject of marriage three different
codes of morality prevailing, and codes not only of
morality, but of law. That which in the case of one
person was innocent, consistent both with self-respect
and public esteem, was in the case of another person
sinful, reprehensible, even by law criminally punishable.
Having described the custom, I will say a few words
regarding the small mountain tract in which the custom
prevails. The scenery of this tract is no way remark-
able. Like nearly all the rest of the Lower Himalaya,
it consists of long, winding ridges, rising into peaks or
eminences, and separated by deep, narrow valleys. Two
of these eminences, however, are worthy of notice. One
is the mountain of Daobun, or "Wood of the Gods";
the other, of lower elevation, is that of Barat.

256 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

The mountain of Daobun is really beautiful. It
rises to a height of about ten thousand feet, and it
is clothed with forests to its very topmost crest. It
has also, what is very rare in the Lower Himalaya,
precipices of limestone. Nearly perpendicular, and
standing on either side of a narrow gorge, these cliffs
tower upwards above the forest like gigantic gateways,
with an aspect of extreme grandeur.

On the northern slope of the mountain, a little below
the summit, there is a broad, deep dyke. It is artificial,
and has been quarried out of the rocky soil. The
tradition is, that it was excavated to hold the frozen
snow which in former days the raja of the region had,
during the hot season, to send to Delhi to cool the
water and sherbet of the Emperor. The tradition
is scarcely one to be accepted. Carried on men's
shoulders, the snow would hardly have reached the
plains unmelted, let alone the long journey to Delhi
beyond.

The mountain of Barat possesses no beauty ; it is
noticeable only on account of the ruins of a fortress
that crown its summit. The ruins are insignificant, but
they are interesting as being almost the only example
of a fortress so situated in all this region of the Hima-
laya. I may add also that from the summit of this
mountain is to be obtained a distant view of the plains
of the Punjaub.

It remains to make a brief mention of the capital of
this small region ; it is situated in the Doon below, not
in the Dehra Doon, but in that prolongation of the
valley which lies to the west of the Jumna. There,

THE DOON 257

not far from the river, the Httle town, hardly more than
a village, stands picturesquely nestled below the moun-
tains, with forests all around ; it is itself almost hidden
among groves of mango trees, planted by the ancestors
of its present inhabitants. Lying low, surrounded by
vegetation, it is during the rainy season extremely
unhealthy, indeed, a very abode of fever, but during
the cold season the climate is pleasant enough, by
day bright warm sunshine, at night sufficiently cold
to make sitting round a fire of logs outside the tent
very agreeable.

The enjoyment of the fire is, however, a good deal
interfered with by a wind which soon after nightfall
commences to blow down the valley of the Jumna.
This wind, termed by the natives the " dadhoo," is one
of the peculiarities of the Himalaya ; it occurs at the
mouths of all the larger valleys, those that lead up
toward the snow; it is thus accounted for: after sun-
set the air of the higher portion of the valleys becomes
chilled, and becoming in consequence also heavier, it
sweeps downwards to the plains.

At night are heard the usual forest cries, but mostly
the bark-like call of the deer and occasionally that
sweetest of all the forest sounds, the note of the night-
hawk ; this, heard only in the mountains, resembles
nothing so much as the sound of a musical glass or the
softest of bells. It is uttered once, and presently replied
to, then after the interval of a minute again repeated,
and so continued the livelong night. The note is sweet
in itself, and heard among the mountains, it seems to
express all the wildness and poetry of its surroundings.
S / '

258 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

The forests round here have also by day-time a
special charm, at least at this season of the year.
A creeper grows among them, now in flower, and the
flower exhales a scent faintly resembling that of honey.
For miles around the atmosphere is laden with the
perfume.

I have mentioned the mango groves; they are very
extensive, so extensive, indeed, as almost to form forests.
Though rather monotonous, they are still pleasant to
stroll among, especially towards sunset, when the light
streams soft and mellow through the canopy of foliage.
One of the groves raises sad recollections. Scattered
about it are small white buildings, something resembling
those diminutive temples which the Hindoos often erect
near wells or beneath some adjacent tree ; but these
small edifices are solid, and are not temples, but
memorials, and memorials of sacrifice. Each marks
the spot where in former days some widow was im-
molated on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband,
in other words where a suttee was performed.

The number of these memorial edifices astonished
me, for the population of the town is but scanty, and
its foundation does not date back much above a century
and a half

Everyone has heard of the practice of suttee, but
very few Europeans even in India are aware that the
practice was not confined to the Hindoos, but to some
extent prevailed also among the Indian Mahomedans.
On this point the histories leave no doubt. The
Emperor Jehangire, in his memoirs, records that in
the course of one of his progresses he came on a town

THE DOON 259

or place where a Mahomedan wife had been thus im-
molated at the funeral of her husband. The Emperor
expresses his horror and indignation at the proceeding ;
his indignation was the greater on account of the
extreme youth of the victim. The wife who was thus
sacrificed was, the Emperor learnt, of no more than
twelve years of age.

The incident caused the Emperor to make further
inquiries, and he ascertained, to his surprise and further
indignation, that the practice of suttee prevailed among
the Mahomedans in various other localities.

The Emperor issued edicts prohibiting the practice
among Mahomedans under the severest penalties ; but,
nevertheless, the practice appears to have continued ;
it continued, indeed, till within less than half a century
of the commencement of our rule, for it is stated in the
histories that at the funeral of the celebrated Syud
Abdoolah at Delhi, about the year 1725 of our era,
several of his wives were burnt to do him honour.
Now Abdoolah, as a syud, or descendant of the Prophet,
was among Mahomedans an object of religious venera-
tion ; and, moreover, he held the very highest secular
rank, for he and his brother, under the title of ministers,
had been for some years the actual rulers of the
empire.

I have spoken of the grandeur of the line of the
Himalaya as seen from the Doon, and the enormous
height to which the mountains appear to rise. I will
conclude this chapter with some further observations
on the subject. The impression of the height of the
mountains is the most striking when they come

26o HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

suddenly into view, as, for example, at some opening
in the forests or some bend in a ravine ; then the
higher peaks seem to pierce the very firmament.

The mountains, however, convey this impression of
extreme elevation only in the day-time. When seen
at night, even at the distance of a few miles, they
appear to rise but very little above the horizon, so little
that when encamped on the further side of the Doon I
have had, even in the brightest moonlight night, great
difficulty in distinguishing them at all.

This contrast between the apparent elevation of the
mountains when seen by day and by night is very
singular. I think that it may be thus explained : the
mountains, although so lofty, do not in reality rise
more than a very few degrees above the horizon ; they
consequently conceal only a narrow strip of the lower
zone of the sky, but it is to this lower zone that during
the day-time our eyes are almost entirely directed, for
in the day-time we seldom gaze except on the surface
of the ground and on objects that rise but slightly
above it. Seeing, therefore, that the mountains do
conceal a very appreciable amount of this lower zone
of sky on which we gaze, we forget how narrow, as
compared with the entire firmament, this lower zone
really is, and hence we form an exaggerated concep-
tion of the altitude of the mountains.

But at night these conditions are reversed. Our
gaze is then chiefly directed towards the zenith ; we
look almost entirely on the moon or stars. In order
to observe the mountains, we have to direct our eyes
downwards, and, in doing so, to traverse with our gaze

THE DOON 261

the whole expanse of the firmament ; then, when at
length the mountains come into view, we perceive how
insignificant is the space they occupy in comparison
to the expanse above them. Moreover, small as the
space they occupy actually is, it appears to be even
smaller, for, owing to the indistinctness of the light, the
line of horizon is but vaguely defined. Much, conse-
quently, of the lower portions of the mountains appears
merged in the surface of the ground.

While on the subject of the mountains, I will
mention another optical illusion connected with them,
which is still more singular, and also less easy to
explain.

The plains immediately below the outer ranges of
the Himalaya slope upwards, and at a considerable
angle ; nevertheless the impression conveyed to the
traveller approaching the mountains, always provided
that he is mounted, either riding or driving, is that he
is descending. This impression is the strongest when
the road is straight and is bordered by trees.

The first time that I witnessed this illusion was in
approaching the line of mountains around Nynee Tal.
The road was straight ; it ran through the forest in a
direct line towards the mountains. I was not then
aware of the illusion, nor of the upward slope of the
ground. Judging from appearances, I was under the
impression that the road descended, and, moreover, that
the descent was steep.

Presently we came to a little stream ; it flowed along
the margin of the road. To my amazement, the water
was running towards us, racing and foaming, so it

262 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

seemed, up the steep incline. So perfect was the
illusion that, though my companion informed me that it
was such, it was not till I had dismounted that I could
altogether dispel it. Then, on walking a short distance,
the exertion which the ascent demanded convinced me
of its reality.

CHAPTER XVI.
TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS

THE Doon, as I have said, swarms with wild
animals, I have spoken of them generally ; I will
now describe some of the best known a little more in
detail, and first that most masterful and dreaded of all,
that lord of the forests, the tiger.

Tigers abound in the Doon ; nevertheless, except by-
sportsmen who search for them, they are but very rarely
seen. I myself, though I marched much about the
valley, never saw even one. But once, though I did not
see him, a tiger paid me a visit ; that is to say, in the
course of the night he came and remained some time
just on the edge of my camp. It was the cold season ;
we were in tents, and the tents were pitched close
adjacent to a large patch of tall, coarse grass, and
immediately beyond the grass was a wide ravine, full of
jungle. It was about ten o'clock. We were all in bed ;
I was falling asleep, when there burst on my ears a very
babel of noise. The horses were neighing and stamping,
the elephant was trumpeting, and the servants were
running about shouting and vociferating in the wildest
confusion ; and mingled with the other sounds came the
screams of some creature in agony, and at intervals

263

264

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

accompanying the screams there was a deep, mufifled
roar.

There was such a turmoil that it was some time before
I could ascertain what had happened. Then I learnt
that a tiger had entered the patch of coarse grass, had
caught a wild hog, and was devouring it. The screams
continued for some time, but growing fainter and
fainter. Presently they ceased, as did also the muffled
roars ; at the same tim.e the horses became quiet, and
the elephant stopped his trumpeting. We concluded
from this that the tiger had finished his meal and had
departed.

The next morning the patch of grass was examined.
In an open space among the clumps of grass we found a
large wild hog lying dead ; one hind leg had been
completely devoured, and the blood apparently also
sucked out of the rest of the body. After this I was
careful never to encamp near patches of this tall grass,
nor adjacent to a wooded ravine.

The reason that tigers are so rarely seen is that they
mostly pass the day in slumber and in the recesses of
the forest and grass jungles. Occasionally, however,
they do wander abroad, and then they are sometimes
met with. A gentleman I knew had once this ex-
perience. It was in the Shewalics. He was driving
through one of the western passes, on his way to
Mussoorie. At a turn in the pass, to his consternation,
he beheld a tiger ; it was on the other side, some little
way in advance, and walking leisurely onwards in the
same direction as himself

After a moment's hesitation he decided to drive on in

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 265

the chance of passing it ; but his vehicle was an old one,
and the wheels rattled loudly. The tiger heard, stopped,
and turned round. There were some seconds of extreme
anxiety, then relief; for the tiger, either alarmed at the
appearance of the vehicle or at the noise of its wheels,
turned again, broke into a trot, and disappeared in an
adjacent gorge.

The tigers do not confine themselves entirely to the
forests and jungles at the base of the Himalaya. They
occasionally wander up the valleys, even, it is said, as far
as the snowy range.

The Government at that time gave a reward for the
killing of the more dangerous wild animals, such as
tigers, leopards, and bears. Before the reward could be
claimed the skin of the animal had to be shown me. In
the course of my residence in the Doon, in this way a
great number of tiger skins were brought before me, and
I learnt some things regarding them which perhaps may
interest the reader.

The skins of the young tigers are by far the hand-
somest : the fur is longer, softer, and thicker, and the
colours deeper and richer. With advancing age the
colours grow paler, and the fur shorter and less close.
By the appearance of a skin the age of the tiger can
thus be roughly guessed, also the season of the year in
which it was killed, for under the intense sunlight of the
hot weather the colours, especially the yellow, more or
less become lighter and less brilliant. The skins of the
old male tigers are generally much marked with scars,
the results of the wounds received in their many
combats.

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HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

Most of the tigers whose skins were brought in had
been shot from platforms built on the branches of trees,
or from behind a barricade of some kind or other ; but
in some instances they had been shot in the most
sportsmanHke manner by a hunter on foot, and with no
other protection than his own firearm. One such case I
especially remember. An elderly man, a hunter, or, to
use the native term, " a shikaree," by profession, came to
me with two skins ; one skin was that of a tiger, the other
that of a bear. He stated that he had shot them the
day before in the forest, and he brought them to show
and so claim the reward. In reply to my inquiries, he
described to me the whole adventure.

He had heard of a tiger, and gone out in search of it ;
he found it, and shot it dead. He had just reloaded,
when he heard a crashing among the trees behind ; he
turned and saw a bear coming towards him. The
situation was alarming, but the man kept his presence
of mind ; he waited till the bear was quite near,
and then fired and shot it, as he had the tiger also,
dead.

Now, considering that the man was old, and that he
had no better weapon than a matchlock, the feat was
certainly a remarkable one. From the inquiries I made,
I satisfied myself that the man's story was true, and the
two skins also bore testimony to its correctness, for they
showed that each animal had been killed by a single
bullet.

The bear of the Doon is certainly small, but still for
a man it is a most deadly antagonist ; and, moreover,
unlike the tiger, there is no escaping it, for it can not

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 267

only run, and run fast, but it can also climb trees, and
that with perfect facility.

The skin of this tiger, though not large, was the
handsomest I ever saw, for the tiger was young, and
the skin most beautifully marked ; and, moreover, it
had been shot in the cold weather. It was so hand-
some that I had it prepared, and subsequently brought
it v/ith me home to England.

The tigers in India, like the wolves formerly in this
country, are the wild beasts the most often introduced
into legends and fairy tales, and with which the most
superstitions are associated. Among others they are
supposed occasionally to be animated by sentiments of
religion. I have seen pictures where they are repre-
sented as standing in attitudes of reverence around a
fakir performing austerities, and there is a belief that
occasionally they will sv/eep with their tails at night
the terraces on which devotees of especial sanctity sit
and meditate during the day.

Such influence over tigers is mostly attributed to the
devotees of past ages ; but I remember hearing of a
devotee in quite recent times who thought he possessed
it, and, with disastrous results to himself, attempted to
exercise it. The affair occurred in a station where
I once held office, but it occurred some years pre-
viously. One of the English officials, in the course of
a shooting expedition, captured a quite young tiger — a
mere cub. He brought it home and kept it. It was
playful at first ; then, as it grew larger, it became
dangerous, and had to be placed in a cage. It was
nearly full grown when the devotee, in the course of

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HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

his wanderings, arrived at the station, or rather at the
city near which the station was situated. He was
practising an austerity, and was pledged to maintain
absolute silence for a certain number of years. He
heard of the tiger, and made it understood that he
would proceed to its cage, put in his arm, and stroke
it with impunity.

A great crowd accompanied him. The devotee, very
confident, advanced to the cage and thrust in his arm
between the bars, and then uttered a piercing yell ; for,
as might have been expected, the tiger, when he saw
the arm, immediately seized it. Somehow or other the
devotee was rescued, but with his arm terribly lacerated,
and also with his reputation for sanctity entirely ruined.
Moreover, he had lost all the benefit of his long austerity,
for by his screams and other exclamations his vow of
silence had been violated.

Tigers, chained or in cages, used formerly to be often
kept by wealthy natives and at the native courts, and
in a manner that we should consider very insecure. I
remember even now my astonishment on coming on
a tiger thus kept in one of the streets of Lucknow ; it
was on the occasion of my first visit, some years before
the annexation. The gentleman with whom I was
staying drove me through the city one afternoon. In
the course of the drive we turned suddenly from a
rather narrow lane into the principal thoroughfare ;
there was a crowd, and we had to wait till it had
passed. While thus waiting I happened to look round,
and there close beside me, lying on a low wooden
platform, I saw an enormous tiger ; he lay half asleep.

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 269

with his head resting on his paws. He was secured
only by an iron chain attached to the wall behind, and
fastened to an iron collar round his neck.

All along the edge of the platform men were seated,
chatting, smoking, or resting, and apparently perfectly
indifferent to the huge creature so near them. I
suppose they were safe ; but it seemed to me as if
by a sudden bound and stretch of his forearm the
tiger might either break his chain or reach some of
the men who were nearest him. A little further on
in the street we passed another tiger similarly chained
on a platform, and with a whole row of men similarly
sitting along the edge. Possibly there may have been
more tigers on other platforms elsewhere.

But I suppose that in no court in India were so many
tigers maintained, or allowed so much liberty, as in the
court of the Emperor Jehangire, the cotemporary of
our James I. According to native tradition, the
Emperor possessed supernatural influence over wild
animals, which rendered them incapable of harming
him. The King of Persia, so the story goes, heard
a report of this and sent an ambassador to ascertain
if it was correct ; the ambassador when presented
found the Emperor seated on his throne stroking and
petting two great tigers, and the tigers as gentle to
him and submissive as if they had been puppies or
kittens. Astonished at the sight, he informed his
master that the report he had heard was more than
true. "This Emperor of Hindostan," he wrote, "exer-
cises not sovereignty, but godship."

The native tradition, at least so far as the presence

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HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

of the tigers at the Emperor's court is concerned, is
confirmed by the accounts of the EngHsh travellers
of the period. Hawkins, who was two years at Agra
in attendance at the court, speaks of fifteen young
lions which used to roam about the palace " and hurt
no one." But he adds that the Emperor, whom he
describes as horribly cruel, used occasionally to make
some of his soldiers wrestle with them, and then the
case was different. The soldier who wrestled with
the lion was of course torn in pieces.

Terry, who afterwards visited the court when at
Ajmere as chaplain to Sir Thomas Roe, the ambas-
sador sent by King James, speaks also of the wild
animals at the palace, especially of a " very great
Hon " that used to walk among the crowds " as gentle
as a dog, harming no one." Terry states, however,
that he was always accompanied by a number of
keepers.

I should explain here that these early travellers
applied the term " lion " indifferently both to the real
Indian lion and also to that much more powerful
animal the tiger. We may conclude, therefore, accord-
ing to native traditio that the animals they speak
of as lions were really tigers.

All who have seen tigers, even in menageries, must
have been struck with their activity and grace of move-
ment ; but it is only when observed free in the forests
and jungles that one becomes aware of their enormous
strength. A tiger, so I have often been assured, will
crush in the head of a bullock with a single blow of his
forearm, and will carry at full speed up the side of

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 271

a mountain in his jaws the body of any cattle he
may have seized and killed.

The tiger being an animal so fierce, active, and
powerful, it may be supposed that of all sports tiger-
shooting must be one of the most exciting and
dangerous. As ordinarily it used to be practised in
large parties, and on elephants, it was really one of
the tamest and safest, so safe that accidents were of
the rarest occurrence. I remember, however, one very
sad one. As it happened in the Doon, and as its
incidents were very singular, I will relate them.

A young officer at Dehra heard of a tiger in one of
the neighbouring forests. He went out on an elephant
in search of it ; he took with him only his soldier-
servant, a Goorkha, The elephant was not trained
for shooting, and it carried no howdah, but only a
pad. The tiger was found ; the officer fired and hit
it. The tiger, mortally wounded, crawled under a tree
and there fell. The elephant was urged towards it ;
being untrained, on coming near the tiger it took
fright and became unmanageable. To save them-
selves, the officer and his servant seized hold of a
branch of the tree that stretched above them as the
elephant rushed off into the forest.

The Goorkha servant, light, active, and loosely clad,
swung himself up and sat astride on the branch. The
officer, heavier and encumbered by his tighter-fitting
dress, was unable to do so, notwithstanding all the
efforts of his servant to assist him. He had to remain
suspended, holding on by his hands alone. The situa-
tion must have been terrible, for the tiger lay below

272 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

him still alive, and he felt his own strength failing.
Presently the grip of his hands relaxed, and he fell.
He felt too much shaken to move, and had his leg
within reach of the tiger's jaws. The tiger had just
sufficient life remaining to enable him to seize the
leg and crunch it. The officer was rescued, and
eventually recovered, but it was with the loss of his
limb. What made the case sadder was that he was
remarkably handsome and a soldier of much promise.
The event occurred long before I had charge of the
Doon, but at a time when I happened to be at Mus-
soorie on leave. I tell the story as I then heard it.

I will conclude my account of the tigers by the
correction of a very prevalent error in regard to some
of them. It is commonly supposed, especially in this
country, that the tigers termed " man-eaters " are tigers
of unusual ferocity. It is quite otherwise. They
are tigers whose strength and activity have become
diminished by age. Unable to catch the deer and
wild animals, as before, they approach the villages and
prey on the sheep and cattle or, if they happen to meet
with any, on the human inhabitants ; and this they
continue to do when opportunity offers, not from any
special partiality for the flesh of man, but because it
happens to be easily obtainable.

Having said so much on the tigers, I ought not to
leave unmentioned their near but less imposing rela-
tions, the leopards. Although smaller and weaker, the
leopards are far more numerous than are the tigers, and
they are also more frequently met with. When travel-
ling through the forests I have many times seen thenj

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 273

crossing the road before me, occasionally alone, more
often two together. They much infest the lower ranges
of the Himalaya. They do not, like the tigers, confine
themselves to the valleys; they wander up the mountains
as high as the forests extend. Though far inferior in
size and strength to the tiger, the leopard excels the
tiger in agility and grace of movement. Of the agility
of the leopard I once saw a striking instance. It was
at Mussoorie. I was walking one afternoon along a
road that led round a thickly wooded hill. Suddenly
a deer leaped out of the wood, crossed the road, and
descended the hill on the other side. I was a little
surprised, as deer were rarely seen so near the station.
Almost immediately after I heard a noise in the trees
above. The sound came from behind me. I turned,
and saw a leopard spring out of the wood. It gave one
leap on to the road^ then bounded over the railing, and
went headlong down the mountain-side, and at racing
speed.

Now the mountain there was extremely steep, as steep,
indeed, as it could be for trees to grow on it A man
could not have safely descended it save on hands and
knees, and clinging to the grass and underwood ; and
yet the leopard, far heavier, tore down at full gallop.
Nothing but the most extreme agility could have pre-
vented him from rolling over and over to the bottom,
or being dashed against the trees.

Leopards when young can be tamed ; but as they

grow older they are apt to become dangerous. I have

heard of them being kept as pets. One was so kept

at the Lucknow Residency some years before the

T

27+ HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

annexation. My brother happened at the time to be
there on a visit. He told me that the leopard used
to wander at will all over the house ; it was as tame
as a dog, and would let anyone stroke it, though not
everyone cared to do so. It was, however, a great
terror to strangers who came on it unexpectedly.

There was a story about this leopard, or some other
that succeeded it, that it eventually became savage and
was killed. I tell the story as I have heard it, without,
however, vouching for its correctness. Indeed, of that
I entertain some doubt. The story, certainly sufficiently
exciting, is as follows : —

A gentleman, a visitor at the Residency, was lying
asleep in the morning. His right arm hung slightly
over the bedside. He awoke with a feeling of pain,
and, to his horror, saw the leopard beside him and lick-
ing the back of his hand. The leopard's rough tongue
had scraped the skin and drawn blood. The gentleman
attempted to pull away his hand ; the leopard growled.
The gentleman repeated the attempt ; there was another
growl, and louder and fiercer. It was early morning ;
there was no one near to give assistance, and yet if no
assistance came the position of the gentleman seemed
desperate, for, with the taste of blood, the animal would
soon get maddened and tear him to pieces. But the
gentleman remembered that he had a loaded pistol
beneath his pillow. He cautiously drew it out with his
left hand, placed the mouth of the barrel to the leopard's
skull, and fired. The leopard fell dead, and he was
saved.

I will follow this story by another, which in contrast

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 275

will, I fear, appear exceedingly tame, but of the truth
of which I can vouch. A young officer at a station
where I once was had a pet leopard. It was very
gentle still ; when it got big it was thought more
prudent to have it kept chained. The chain was a
strong one, but, nevertheless, in a few days the leopard
broke it, wandered about, killed a few fowls, and was
then recovered and brought home and secured by a
chain still stronger. This too he presently broke, and,
if I remember right, a third one also. How he did
so was a mystery. It was at length solved. It was
not the result of any desire of the leopard to escape,
but merely the consequence of his incessant activity.
Except when eating or sleeping, he was for ever pacing
round and round and backwards and forwards. The
chain by these movements got at length knotted and
twisted into the rigidity of a bar, and at some moment
snapped with the leverage of the leopard's strength and
weight pressing against its further end.

The tigers and leopards are the natural inhabitants
of the Doon and its forests ; the bears may be re-
garded rather as visitors or immigrants, for their proper
home is the Himalaya. They are small, that is, for
bears. In size they do not very much exceed a well-
grown English sheep, and their fur, though very long,
is not particularly thick. It is black in colour, with
generally a patch of white on the chest.

Notwithstanding, however, their small size, the bears
in the Himalaya are far more dreaded than even the
tigers. I once asked a villager the reason. He thus
explained it. The tiger, he said, if he attacks a man,

276 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

kills him ; but these bears — and here he applied to them
a most insulting epithet — if they meet a man, will
mutilate and leave him. Of the truth of this statement
I soon after had a sad illustration. I met a villager
being led by another. He seemed ill, and one side of
his face was concealed by a cloth. I inquired what was
the matter. In reply he lifted the cloth, and displayed
a terrible spectacle. The entire face, eye, cheek, and
skin, was gone. Nothing remained but one great half-
healed scar.

He had gone to cut wood in the forest above his
village. There a bear attacked him. These bears of
the Himalaya, I should mention, do not hug, as the
bears of Europe are said to do ; they bite, or they
rise on their hind legs and strike wdth their forepaw.
This bear did so. He rose, and with his front paw
struck the man on the head. The claws tore away the
face. How the man escaped I forget ; I suppose that
either the bear left him, or that he had companions
that drove it off.

During the hot season the bears mostly reside in the
valleys and on the lower slopes of the mountains. As
the cold weather approaches they ascend to the summits,
and there for the winter they remain. They come up
to feed on certain fruits and berries that they then
find in the higher forests. The bears that come near
Mussoorie occasionally enter the station ; at least, in
my time they did. They not only entered the station,
but, when the fancy took them, they would visit the
houses. Their visits were usually paid at night, and
mostly to houses that were empty — of which at that

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 277

season there was always plenty, for during the winter
Mussoorie was nearly deserted.

The bears would, however, also prowl round houses
in which there were residents ; and of this I once
had experience. It was in the month of February.
I was at Mussoorie on leave ; I occupied a house near
the extreme end of the station, very lonely, and with
woods all around. It must have been near midnight ;
I was in bed and asleep. I was awakened by a noise
in the verandah, a heavy, shuffling sound accompanied
by a grunting snuffle. Not a little to my dismay, I
recognized the grunt as that of a bear ; and then, still
more to my dismay, I became aware that there was not
only one bear, but two, and further that one of the two
was pushing against the door.

I now became really alarmed. I had no gun by me,
and the servants were all on the other side of the house ;
and, moreover, if the bears wanted to enter, I was very
sure that the door would not prevent them. I was con-
sidering what to do, when, much to my relief, the bears
moved off. But it was only as far as the other door.
There in a minute or two I again heard their grunting
and shuffling ; but it soon ceased, and as it did not
recommence, I presumed that the bears had finally
departed, and I fell again asleep.

In the morning I discovered that as to the final
departure of the bears I had been mistaken. On leaving
my door they had continued their prowl round the
house till they discovered the larder. The door of
this they smashed open ; that done, they entered, and
devoured a cheese.

278 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

^

These Himalayan bears, if caught young, are easily
tamed, but afterwards, like the leopards, they are not
to be trusted. I once had two given me. One of them
was still half a cub, the other nearly full grown. They
were very tame and very amusing. I used often to
have them brought into the house and let them play
about the garden. They were especially fond of climb-
ing the trees, and once up, it was a great business to
get them down again. They were perfectly quiet, and
never attempted to bite, not even the dogs who some-
times used to run after them ; they were never, however,
allowed to go altogether loose. When brought into the
house or let play in the garden, the man who looked
after them always accompanied them. The largest of
the two he also generally led, except, of course, when
it was permitted to climb a tree. I had these two
bears for nearly a year, then I was transferred to a
distant station, and as I could not very well take the
bears with me, I presented them to a native landowner,
who had often expressed his desire to possess them.

After discussing these grander creatures, the bear and
the tiger, it may seem superfluous to speak of the
wolves. I do so, however, on account of a curious
superstition, or rather belief, which prevails in India
regarding them. I shall presently mention it. There
are wolves in the Doon and in the neighbouring wastes
and forests ; but in comparison with the other larger
and fiercer wild animals they attract but little attention.
In the plains it is different. The wolves there are nearly
the only beasts of prey, and in the parts where they
are numerous they are regarded with great terror.

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 279

They seldom attack adults, either women or men, but
they frequently carry off children.

Early in my service I was subordinate magistrate
at Etawah, a district not far from Agra. In parts of
that district, along the banks of the river Chumbul,
there are very extensive ravines. They form a perfect
labyrinth over many miles of country. In these
ravines the wolves abounded. They were not much
seen in the day, but at night they roamed abroad,
prowled about the villages, and if they found a door
open would enter and bear off a child. It is so long ago
that I may exaggerate, but I think that hardly a week
passed without some such case being reported.

Now it was the belief of the natives that in some
rare instances the child thus seized was not devoured,
but was brought up by some she-wolf with her own
offspring. The belief was not confined to that district,
but was universal ; it was entertained even by some
Europeans : that is, they accepted as reliable the state-
ments that from time to time appeared of the discovery
of children that wolves had thus brought up.

Some years after, when I was magistrate of Muttra,
the discovery of such a child was reported ; it was a
boy. He had been found wandering, if I remember
aright, near some ravines. When found, he was
perfectly unclothed, and though apparently at least
twelve years old, he was unable to utter any articulate
sound. The villagers who had discovered the boy
had taken him to the nearest police-station, describing
him as a " wolf-child," and the police as such for-
warded him on to me.

28o HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

His arrival caused the greatest excitement ; whole
crowds from the city flocked out to behold him ; the
excitement penetrated even to the zenanas. At the
special request of the wealthiest resident in the city,
the boy was conducted to his house, in order that his
wives and the other females of his family might see
him.

Now, through the police, I made the fullest investiga-
tion into the matter ; nevertheless as to who the boy
was, where he came from, or who had brought him,
I could discover nothing. But for the statement that
he had been brought up among the wolves there was
not the smallest foundation ; it arose merely from the
love of the marvellous, the inability of the boy to
speak, his very animal expression of countenance, and
the mystery of his sudden appearance. The simple
facts were that the boy was an idiot, that most probably
he belonged to some party of vagrants, and for some
reason or other had been deserted by them when
passing through the district. I have little doubt that
the other tales of " wolf-children," if we could in-
vestigate them, would be found equally unreliable.

Although at various times I have been much in the
neighbourhood of wolves, I never but once beheld one —
I mean free in the jungle. The occasion was this : I was
marching ; my tent was pitched by a river. In the
afternoon I took a stroll along it ; on the opposite side
was a wood, and between the wood and the bank of the
river there stretched a narrow tract of open ground.
Presently I saw walking slowly along this tract what at
first sight I took to be a very large dog ; then on look-

TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 281

ing more attentively I recognized him as a wolf, very-
tall, gaunt, and shaggy. He was a little in advance,
proceeding in the same direction as myself, and conse-
quently he did not see me. I stood still and watched
him ; he went on very leisurely, and, like all wild
animals, with extreme caution, constantly turning his
head and looking from side to side. Every now and
again he stopped, stood still for a minute, and seemed
to listen. At length I suppose something alarmed him,
or he saw something to pursue, for he broke into a trot,
made for the wood, entered it, and disappeared.

I am not quite sure, but I do not think that the
wolves in India associate in packs like the wolves of
Europe, and with this remark I will leave them.

I commenced my discussion on the animals with the
tiger ; I will conclude it with some anecdotes and
observations on the tiger's great antagonist, his rival
monarch of the forests, the stately elephant. But the
elephant demands a chapter to himself.

CHAPTER XVII.

ELEPHANTS

THE elephants live mostly in herds ; the herds
wander through these forests. They are not
often seen, but when seen, especially in some open
space, they present a most imposing appearance.
I once heard it described. An English officer was
out shooting in the Shewalics ; he had pitched his
tent for the night up the side of a mountain in a
valley that opens into one of the passes that lead
into the Doon. The next morning at daybreak he
was sitting outside his tent drinking his tea before
starting. The valley below and the pass beyond were
filled, as is often the case in the cold season, with
a thick white mist.

Presently he noticed towards the mouth of the valley
some large, dark forms. They seemed moving, and
next he perceived that they were advancing up the
valley in his direction ; they drew nearer, they became
more distinct, and then a whole herd of elephants
came into view. As one by one they emerged from
the mist the spectacle was most grand, but it was one
also that caused a little anxiety. The elephants might
notice the tent and advance to inspect it, and if so

232

ELEPHANTS 283

the result might be unpleasant. It was a satisfaction
when the herd turned up another gorge and passed
out of sight.

It is not very safe to meet a herd of elephants, but it
is still more dangerous to meet the elephants that
wander alone or even in pairs. On one occasion I had
this last experience. It was long ago, when these
forests were broader than they are at present, the roads
through them less frequented, and the elephants more
numerous. I was travelling by night in a palanquin on
my way to Mussoorie. We were about half-way through
the forest when suddenly the bearers stopped. I heard
a sound of someone shouting in advance ; the bearers
shouted in reply. Then they put down the palanquin in
the road and informed me that we must remain where
we were for a time, as the road in front was occupied by
two elephants. They had learnt this from the man who
had shouted, and who, they said, was the dak-runner,
that is the man on the post-office establishment who
carries the mails. On learning this I got out of the
palanquin to look around. The night was intensely
dark ; the trees on either side seemed to form a wall.
In front, at no great distance, I saw a moving circle of
sparks, something resembling a Catherine wheel. These
sparks, the bearers told mc, proceeded from the burnt
end of stick which the dak-runner was waving round to
check the advance of the elephants ; for elephants, like
most other wild animals, have an extreme dread of
lights or fires when seen in the dark. We remained
thus some ten minutes or more, the dak-runner con-
tinuously waving his stick, and at intervals shouting

284 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

information as to the proceedings of the elephants.
The position was a Httle anxious, as if the elephants
advanced we should have to take refuge in the trees,
and the palanquin would almost certainly be destroyed.

It was a relief, therefore, when the dak-runner at
length announced that the elephants were moving off,
and a crashing among the trees confirmed his state-
ment. The crashing, however, seemed to be coming
in our direction ; and I also thought that I dimly
beheld two great dark forms approaching. This, how-
ever, I consider, must have been fancy. If the elephants
were really advancing towards us they soon changed
their minds, for the crashing grew fainter and fainter,
and before long it ceased to be heard altogether ; then
we felt satisfied that the elephants were well away in
the forest. I re-entered my palanquin, the bearers
raised it, and we continued our journey.

Such incidents did not always terminate so satis-
factorily. I remember hearing of an officer who had
to climb a tree, and from thence witness the proceed-
ings of the elephant with his palanquin. The elephant
first examined the palanquin carefully, both within and
without ; then, his curiosity satisfied, he raised his
trunk and beat it to pieces. I remember also the case
of a lady whose palanquin was similarly destroyed,
and who had herself a most narrow escape ; but the
particulars of it I forget.

It was not uncommon in those days for some solitary
elephant to take up his position on one of the less
frequented of the forest roads, and entirely stop the
traffic, the mails included, for two or three days to-

ELEPHANTS 285

gather. Then he would wander away, return after an
interval, and proceed as before. In the end a reward
would be offered by the Government for his destruction.
Sportsmen would proceed in search of him, and he
would be either frightened away or shot

With regard to one of these elephants I will relate
a story. It is a story which, if at all dramatically told,
I have found always intensely interests children. The
incidents occurred in a part of the forest further to the
east, and, as they were told me by the magistrate in
whose district that part of the forest lay, I think they
may be accepted as correct. About half-way along the
road that led through the forest there stood a hut ; it
was built for the accommodation of the dak-runners
who carried the mails and the police who patrolled
the road ; and, as a security against the wild beasts,
it stood, not on the ground, but on a platform among
the trees. The platform, I may mention, rested on
four strong horizontal poles, fastened at some height
above the ground to the trunks of four trees that
happened to grow near together.

It was night ; the four men not on duty were in the
hut. They had cooked their dinner, and, seated on
the floor, were about to eat it. The dinner, as is
usual among men of their class, consisted chiefly of
" chapatties," that is large, round, flat cakes of un-
leavened bread. The " chapatties," freshly baked, were
piled before them ; a large earthen jar of water stood
in a corner. Suddenly there fell on their ears a
distant sound of crashing among the trees. A solitary
elephant had of late been haunting the forest ; appre-

286 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

hension seized them that the crashing might be he
approaching. Their fears soon became certainties. The
crashing drew nearer and nearer ; then there was a
pause ; next the whole hut shook and trembled. The
elephant had arrived ; he had wound his trunk round
one of the trees, and was trying to uproot it. But
the tree proved too strong ; the elephant was unable
to tear it up, or ev^en to break it. He tried another
of the trees, with the same result, and then in succes-
sion the other two. But though the trees shook, and
the poles creaked, and the hut quivered, yet the trees
stood firm. The terror of the four men meanwhile
may be imagined.

For a minute or so there was quiet. The men were
in hopes that the elephant was about to depart, when,
to their horror, they perceived coming through the
doorway something resembling a huge black snake.
It was the trunk of the elephant. He was evidently
aware of their presence, and was thus endeavouring
to seize them. The men fled precipitately, and forced
themselves into the two furthest corners ; and these,
to their inexpressible relief, the elephant could not
reach. He felt in the two nearer corners ; in one he
found nothing, in the other was the jar of water : this
he broke. Then with his trunk he swept the floor,
and discovered the pile of " chapatties " ; he lifted them
two or three at a time, conveyed them to his mouth,
ate them, and departed.

These solitary elephants are chiefly those who have
been expelled their herd. Each herd of elephants is
led and commanded by the strongest male elephant, the

ELEPHANTS 287

one who has vanquished his rivals. But as years pass,
and the younger elephants grow up, by one or other
of them the supremacy of the leader is disputed. A
combat ensues. The vanquished elephant, whichever
he may be, is then expelled the herd. Condemned
to solitude, he becomes vicious, and is dangerous to
men as well as to his own species. This is the accepted
explanation ; how far it is founded on actual observation
I cannot say.

But among the solitary elephants there are some who
have not been expelled from a herd. These are tame
elephants that have escaped and taken to the forest, and
these, it is said, are among the most dangerous of all.
Their viciousness is attributed to much the same cause.
The wild elephants will not associate with them, and
so, like the expelled elephants, they are condemned to
solitude. The native explanation for this is, that,
having been in captivity and in association with man,
they have from their changed food and mode of life
acquired an order which the wild elephants dislike,
or which marks them as of a different species. It is
more probable, I think, that the wild elephants recognize
them as not belonging to their own herd.

The elephants in these forests are not considered to
be so large and fine as the elephants of the forests far
away to the east towards Assam, nor are they nearly so
numerous. On the.se accounts they are but rarely
captured, and then only in pits, or, as they are termed,
"ogees." The "ogee" in shape much resembles a saw-
pit, only it is very much longer and broader, and also
slightly deeper. It is dug in the course of some track

288 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

along which the herd of elephants is accustomed to
proceed ; it is then covered over with branches of trees,
and above them with leaves, grass, and twigs. The
elephant, mistaking this covering for the real surface
of the ground, steps on it, the branches give way under
his weight, and he falls into the pit below. Although
the fall is not great — not more than eight feet or so
— it is very apt to seriously injure the elephant, and
on this account this mode of capture is but seldom
resorted to.

Elephants are so extremely cautious in testing the
strength and stability of any bridges or embankments
before they venture on them that it certainly seems
surprising that they should be so easily deceived by
these " ogees." I suppose that in the forest, suspecting
no evil, they are less cautious. I once saw an " ogee " ;
it was in the forest just below the Shewalics. A female
elephant and her infant had lately been captured in it.
The mother, I think, had been hurt by her fall; the
infant was none the worse for it. I subsequently
made his acquaintance ; he was a most amusing little
creature; he was about the height of a small donkey, but
so broad, and with such thick legs and massive body,
that he seemed almost like a solid block, and so strong
that he would almost have pulled against an English
cart-horse.

The elephants in these forests, as I have said, are but
seldom caught. I am glad to be able to add that neither
are they ever shot, that is, except those solitary ones
that are dangerous. That barbarous destruction of the
elephant for the sake of his tusks that prevails in

ELEPHANTS 289

Africa, or for mere amusement, as in Ceylon, is here
unknown.

Like some other things and institutions, the position
of the elephant has declined under our rule. He no
longer, gorgeously caparisoned, adds to the splendour
of the court ceremonials, or carries kings and chiefs
in battle, or himself forms an effective portion of the
armies. He is certainly still used in warfare, but it
is in little more than in the capacity of a drudge : he
mostly only draws the heavy cannon and carries on his
back the tents and baggage.

Under the early Mahomedan emperors, indeed till up
to the end of our fourteenth century, the elephants were
regarded as the most important and formidable part of
the Indian armies, and that not only by the emperors
themselves, but also by their foreign invaders. Timour
entered India in the year 1398 of our era. He swept
through the Punjaub without meeting hardly any serious
opposition ; his Mogul troops excited such terror that
the Indians fled at their approach. But on reaching
Delhi the conditions were changed. The Moguls would
here have to encounter not merely the army of the
Emperor, but also his elephants. The army of the
Emperor they despised, but the thought of encountering
these gigantic creatures filled them with apjjrehension.
Their apprehensions were so great that the literary
men who accompanied Timour and all the other non-
combatants were placed in the rear among the women.
Entrenchments were thrown up, and other preparations
made, and then with much anxiety they awaited the
Emperor's attack.
U

290 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

The morning dawned. Timour drew up his troops,
and then, as was his custom, prostrated himself on
the bare ground, and, with arms extended, prayed and
meditated, till, filled with religious ecstasy, he arose and
mounted his horse, assuring his troops of victory. His
troops accepted his assurances ; nevertheless, as the
army of the Emperor approached with the long line of
elephants in front, they felt again apprehensions. The
elephants drew near, the Moguls let fly their arrows, and
their apprehensions vanished. Some of the mahowts
were struck, and fell. Their elephants, left unguided,
turned and fled ; the rest became unmanageable, and
followed : wild with terror, they tore through their own
army behind, throwing it into utter confusion. Then as
Timour, with his Moguls, advanced, the whole Indian
army, with the Emperor at its head, fled precipitately,
and such as escaped massacre took refuge within the
walls of Delhi.

Perhaps it was this disaster that shook the confidence
hitherto placed in the elephants, for in the later wars,
though the elephants still continued to carry into battle
the chiefs and generals, we do not hear of their being
used as actual combatants, always excepting, if the
historian is to be relied on, at the capture of Cheitore,
in Rajpootana, by the Emperor Akbar.

When a breach had been made in the walls by mining,
the Emperor, so the historian relates, advanced to the
attack mounted on his elephant Asman-Shakoh (the
grandeur of the heavens), and accompanied by his
other four war elephants : Budaghur, Jungeah, Gaderah,
and Sabadleah. These five elephants not only carried

ELEPHANTS 291

and accompanied the Emperor, but fought themselves
most valiantly on his behalf, "each of them," the
historian asserts, " doing such things as surpassed all
imagination." For courage and endurance Jungeah
appears to have surpassed them all, for after his trunk
had been cut off by the sword of a Rajpoot chieftain
he still continued to fight, and having already slain
thirty of the enemy, he now, though trunkless, killed
sixteen more.

Although, as I have said, in the later wars elephants
ceased to be used as actual combatants, yet the kings,
chiefs, and generals continued to enter battle and to fight
on them till very shortly before the commencement of
our rule. Mounted on their elephants, they not un-
frequently sought out, like our knights of old, an
antagonist of similar rank in the opposing army. In
the combat which ensued the elephants, guided by
their mahowts, were sometimes able to afford the chief
or general who rode them valuable assistance.

It was not, however, in war so much as in court
ceremonial that the elephants made their most magnifi-
cent appearance. The procession of the state elephants
on the Emperor's birthday and other especial occasions
must indeed have been a spectacle most imposing. It
impressed extremely the early European travellers. Sir
Thomas Roe, the ambassador sent by our James I. to
the Emperor Jehangire, thus describes it : —

" After the Emperor had been weighed against gold,
silver, jewels, and other articles of value, the state
elephants were paraded. They passed in procession
before the Emperor, seated on his throne ; they were

292 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

divided into twelve companies, each company consist-
ing of eight or ten elephants ; they were preceded
by flags and banners, 'and clothed in gold, silk, and
silver.' "

The " first elephant," I presume the one that headed
the procession, is described by Sir Thomas as "a beast
of wonderful size and beauty." His head was covered
with " plates " (of gold, I imagine), " all set with rubies
and emeralds."

The procession, when the Emperor commenced his
journey to Mando, must have been even still more
imposing. A guard of elephants, three hundred in
number, each carrying a small cannon, lined the road on
either side ; and six hundred state elephants went
before the Emperor and behind, and all caparisoned in
velvet or cloth of gold.

The elephant of " wonderful size and beauty," which
Sir Thomas mentions above, was probably the Emperor's
favourite elephant, " Indraguj " (the elephant of Indra,
in Hindoo mythology the god of the skiesj. The
Emperor in his memoirs gives an elaborate description
of this elephant. It had originally belonged to the
Emperor's younger brother. Prince Daniel. After the
death of that prince it came into the Emperor's pos-
session. It was considered to be the largest and in
appearance the most magnificent elephant ever seen
in India.

It was so tall, the Emperor states, that a ladder of
fourteen steps was required to mount it, so fleet that
not even the fastest horse could keep pace with it, so
strong and brave that it would not hesitate to attack a

ELEPHANTS 293

hundred of its own species, and yet so gentle that even
when " in its most furious excitement," if an infant
happened to be in its way, it would stop, raise the infant
gently in its trunk, and place it carefully on one side in
a place of safety.

This elephant, the Emperor further states, always
went attended by a band of music, and preceded
by forty horsemen. In another passage the Emperor
mentions its allowance of food. It may perhaps interest
the reader to hear it. It was as follows : —

Liquor

. 80 bis,

Boiled rice .

. 320 „

Beef or mutton .

. 160 „

Clarified butter .

80 „

With regard to the beef and mutton, I conclude there
must be some mistake.

Hawkins, who was also accredited to the Emperor's
court at an earlier period, describes the Emperor's
favourite elephant, which I presume must be the same.
He speaks of its enormous size and extreme gentle-
ness. Of its gentleness he mentions an instance. He
saw it lift up in succession several young children,
raise them with its trunk aloft in the air, and then
place them with the utmost care again on the
ground. Among the children thus lifted was the
Emperor's youngest son, a boy of not more than seven
years old.

A very full account of the imperial elephants is
given in the Ayeen Akbari. Among other matters,
it is mentioned that a certain number of elephants

294 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

were kept for fighting, and that each of them had
his own special antagonist. Other elephants were
kept for amusement, and were taught to dance, to
play on musical instruments, to shoot arrows from
a bow, and to perform other tricks. It is further
mentioned that a special class of men, famed for their
skill in teaching these tricks to elephants, were main-
tained at the court for the purpose.

I suppose that these performances by elephants went
out of fashion. They are not mentioned, so far as I
know, by any of the early European travellers. I have
never heard of their prevailing at any of the modern
native courts, nor have I heard any tradition regarding
them at the courts of the subsequent emperors. The
elephant-fights, on the contrary, remained an institution
to the last. They are especially noticed by the early
European travellers, and always with condemnation on
account of their extreme cruelty. The cruelty was not,
however, to the elephants, but to the mahowts who
rode them. Each elephant endeavoured to unseat the
mahowt of his antagonist, and if he succeeded, then, if
he could, he trampled him to death.

Bernier, in describing these elephant-fights, says that
they hardly ever took place without one or more of the
mahowts being killed. So dangerous, indeed, were they
regarded, that the mahowts who were to take part in
them, before mounting their elephants, bade farewell
to their wives and children, like soldiers proceeding to
battle. According to Hawkins, the Emperor Jehangire
added a further cruelty to these exhibitions. If a
mahowt, when unseated and flung on the ground, was

ELEPHANTS 295

not killed, but merely maimed or injured, the Emperor
had him immediately thrown into the river, and there
left to drown. " He will be sure to hate me," the
Emperor would remark, " as the cause of his suffering.
It is better, therefore, that he should be sent to a world
where his hate can cause me no evil."

These elephant-fights did not cease with the fall of
the Mogul empire. They were continued at the courts
of all the greater sovereigns among whom that empire
became divided, more especially at Lucknow. They
used to be there exhibited till within a few years
previous to the annexation. I have heard them
described by those who had seen them as the most
uninteresting of spectacles. The fight consisted of the
two elephants butting each other. This they continued
to do till one of the combatants had had enough.
Then he turned and fled, his adversary following and
butting him behind. Like as in a ram - fight, the
elephant that had once turned made no further resist-
ance. So long as the fight continued, each elephant
endeavoured to unseat the mahowt of his adversary ;
but I never heard of the mahowts being killed or
seriously injured.

The elephants used for fighting were always the
largest and strongest that could be procured. On my
first visit to Lucknow, not very long after my arrival in
India, I accidentally saw one — I say accidentally, for I
came on it unawares. I was being shown over the
palace by the gentleman — one of the assistants to the
Resident — with whom I was staying. We had gone
through the palace itself, and were being conducted to

296 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the stables. On the way we passed a detached building.
It was a sort of shed, with thick walls and tiled roof,
and very lofty ; it was partly open in front, and the
opening was fitted with a pair of folding gates formed
of very massive upright wooden bars. It was near
sunset, and the building, facing north or east, seemed
dark within. As we passed, out of curiosity I stepped
aside to the gates, and looked through the bars to see
what lay behind them. I confess that as I did so I
started, and moved back ; for behind the bars, only a
few paces off, stood the very largest elephant I ever
beheld, and in the half-light of the shed he looked even
more gigantic than perhaps he really was. His tusks,
too, were in proportion to his stature : they seemed at
least six or seven feet long. As I placed my face to the
bars the elephant made a movement forward, and it was
then I retreated, for I felt by no means certain that if
he stretched out his trunk he might not reach me. I
subsequently learnt that he was the champion of the
fighting elephants, and was considered to be the largest
and most powerful elephant then in all India.

I will conclude this account of the elephant-fights by
mentioning that in the days of the emperors they were
held at Agra and Delhi on some place on the sands,
between the palace and the river. The space required
for the contests was very large, and was enclosed by a
lofty palisade formed of the strongest timbers. The
exact part of the sands selected I could never clearly
determine from the descriptions of the early travellers.

Under the native rule, and especially under the
Mahomedan emperors, the elephants were frequently

ELEPHANTS 297

used as executioners. No particular elephants were
reserved for the purpose. The condemned were made
over to any of the elephants that happened to be in
attendance. The severity of the punishment was
adapted to the offence. If merely death was adjudged,
the criminal was laid on the ground and the elephant
with his forefoot crushed in his head or his chest,
according as the Emperor directed. Death must have
been instantaneous, but the sight must have been
very sickening. If to death torture was to be added,
then the elephant, guided by his mahowt, broke only
the bones of the limbs of the condemned man in
succession, and now, incapable of movement, he was
left, while life continued, to linger in agony. These
executions were frequently performed in the palace
and before the Emperor himself, his nobles and
courtiers, and the crowds of spectators.

Terry mentions a case where the ordinary mode of
execution was varied. A man had been convicted of
killing his own mother. For such a crime the Emperor
considered that a punishment more terrible than usual
should be inflicted. The man, by the Emperor's direction,
was fastened by a long chain to the hind leg of the
elephant, and so dragged along the road, as the Emperor
set out on his march to Mando. Terry describes seeing
the body in the course of the third march. There was
then, he says, little left of it but the skeleton ; almost
all the flesh had been torn off as the body had been
dragged along over the rough surface of the road.

The male elephants occasionally become savage, or as
it is termed, " must." When in this state they are more

298 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

or less dangerous. They are also given to wandering.
To prevent their doing so, a chain is attached to one of
their hind legs and secured at the other end to a post ;
but notwithstanding this precaution they still some-
times manage to get loose, and then they are to be
avoided. I once saw a " must " elephant which had thus
broke loose. It was at Dehra. The Commander-in-
Chief was marching through the valley, and was en-
camped for a day or two just outside the town. He had
come, as was the custom of those days, with a great
retinue and many elephants.

I was in my tent ; I heard a clamour, and was told
that one of the elephants in the camp had become
" must," had broken loose, and was approaching in our
direction. I ran out to see ; the sight was disappointing.
I had expected to see a furious elephant rushing along
with uplifted trunk in a frenzy of rage and occasionally
trumpeting. Instead of this I beheld an elephant
approaching, walking slowly and deliberately, and in
the calmest and most stately manner. He was dragging
his chain behind him, and followed by a number of
mahowts and their assistants, and after them came a
crowd of men and boys. It was from this crowd, who
appeared to be highly enjoying the sight, that the noise
and shouting proceeded.

The elephant came on, and passed by. A little
beyond, and near beside the road, there stood an
empty cottage. The elephant here stopped ; he turned,
looked at the cottage for a minute or so, and then left
the road and advanced towards it ; and having reached
the cottage, he proceeded in the most deliberate manner

ELEPHANTS 299

to demolish it. He first tore off the thatch and scattered
the fragments in the air and all around ; next he
wrenched out the timbers of the roof and broke them
to pieces. This done, he commenced to batter down
the mud walls. I imagine that he found this business
troublesome, for he presently abandoned it, returned to
the road, and continued his progress along it in the
same calm, stately manner as before. I learnt that he
was soon after captured and brought back to the camp,
but not before he had in a similar manner destroyed
some other cottages.

An iron chain such as this elephant was dragging
after him forms part of the equipment of every elephant.
In the Ayeen Akbari the chain is termed the "dehrneh."
Its modern appellation I do not remember. Those in
use in the Emperor's stables are described as consisting
each chain of sixty links, and each link as weighing
three seers, or six pounds. The chains, the description
adds, were ordinarily made of iron, but occasionally of
silver and even of gold. Assuming the then value of
gold to have been twenty times that of silver, the value
of one of these golden chains would have amounted to
over half a million of our money.

And yet, according to the accounts of the early
European travellers, such chains were not unfrequent at
the imperial court. Sir Thomes Roe describes the
arrival of an elephant at Ajmere, sent as a present
to the then Emperor Jehangire by some tributary
sovereign. Among its other equipments, it carried a
chain of gold, but perhaps this chain was of a lighter
construction.

300 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

The elephant, as all are aware, is long-lived. Its
age exceeds a century, but by how much is a matter on
which statements vary. The Emperor Akbar assigns a
hundred and twenty years as the duration of the life of
an elephant. Popular belief in India credits him with
thirty more years in addition. The elephant is con-
sidered to reach maturity at the age of fifty, and to
continue to live afterwards for twice that period. In
most cases, however, the length of an elephant's life
must be a matter of uncertainty, for when captured his
age can only be conjectured, and after capture he out-
lives so many owners and attendants that at the end
the period when he was acquired must be much a
matter of tradition.

The great age to which elephants do live is more
striking when particular instances are given than when
merely generally stated. The two following cases always
much impressed me. The state elephant that carried
Warren Hastings was said to be alive, and still on
occasions to bear the howdah of the Governor-General,
up to a short period before my arrival in India ; and
the elephant of Sooruj Mull, the celebrated Raja of
Bhurtpore, was said to have been still ridden on state
occasions by his far-away successors after our capture
of Bhurtpore had reduced them from independent
sovereigns to the position of little more than large
landed proprietors. Sooruj Mull was killed in his
march to Delhi in 1763, and between his death and the
capture of Bhurtpore a period of nearly seventy years
had gone by ; and in the interval so many and great
had been the changes that politically another world had

ELEPHANTS 301

arisen, and between the two worlds this elephant seemed
the connecting link.

As elephants grow old, like as with other animals,
their strength declines. In the matter of food, this
alone would not much affect them, for they subsist
chiefly on leaves and the small branches of trees, and
of these in the forests there is always abundance ; but
as their strength declines, so also do their teeth decay.
Indeed, the decay of their teeth commences while their
strength is still almost unimpaired, and without teeth
or with fewer, though they may pluck the branches,
they are unable to properly masticate them. The twigs
and branches they devour pass through them but little
digested. This loss of teeth occurs equally in the wild
and in the domesticated elephant. By the droppings left
by a herd, the number of elephants that have passed the
period of their prime can always be identified. I do
not know if the teeth gradually decay or loosen and
fall out whole.

In the early days of our rule elephants were a good
deal used by Europeans for riding. In the hot season
the evening airing was frequently taken on an elephant
instead of, as now, in a carriage ; and in the cold season,
when travelling in tents, it was similarly on an elephant
that marches were made. In my time this custom
had been long discontinued. Very few Europeans kept
elephants at all ; and those who did kept them only
for the purpose of tiger-shooting.

For traversing the forests and grass jungles the
elephant is indispensable ; and for passing through the
streets of a native city it is, of all modes of conveyance,

302 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the most convenient and agreeable. Raised high aloft,
the view of the rider is never interrupted, and he escapes
all the closeness and pressure of the crowds below.
Moreover, the elephant makes his way through the
crowds with an ease and rapidity possible to neither
horse nor carriage, and he does so with almost absolute
safety to the crowds themselves. Fatal as would be
his push or tread, yet he manages to pass along and
to clear his passage without hurt to man or animal.

Except, however, for these two purposes, the travers-
ing the cities and the forests or jungles, the elephant as
a substitute for a horse or vehicle is not to be recom-
mended, and least of all for the performance of a
journey. The pace of the elephant is a series of jolts.
Towards the end of the journey, as he becomes tired,
the jolts grow rougher ; also his speed slackens. He
appears every instant as if about to stop, and has
to be constantly urged on by his mahowt. What
with the jolting and the urging, by the end of the
journey the rider is almost as fatigued as the elephant
himself.

An elephant cannot be well described as a beautiful
animal, hardly even as a handsome animal ; yet his
vast size and enormous tusks give to him an aspect
of much grandeur. But, to appreciate his full majesty
of appearance, he should be seen fully caparisoned in
gorgeous trappings, and bearing one of the beautiful
Indian howdahs, all overlaid with gold.

The height of an elephant is said to equal twice the
circumference of his fore foot. I have never, however,
tested the accuracy of the statement by measurement.

ELEPHANTS 303

nor do I know whether the height referred to is that of
the elephant at his shoulder or at the centre of his
back, where it is greater.

The intelligence of the elephant is proverbial, though
certainly many of the current stories brought forward to
illustrate it are sufficiently fictitious. If the histories
are to be accepted, the elephant is also capable of
corresponding sentiments of affection. It is related
that when the Emperor Kuttub-ood-Deen (pole star
of the faith) was slain in a night attack on his camp,
his favourite elephant was so affected at his master's
death, that he pined away and died also himself of
grief. This elephant is also stated by the historian to
have been the only white elephant seen in India.

CHAPTER XVIII.
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE WILD ANIMALS

THROUGHOUT India generally the larger wild
animals are now less numerous than they formerly
were. Over certain large tracts some of these animals
have even entirely disappeared. This diminution and
disappearance is ordinarily attributed partly to the
greater numbers killed by sportsmen since our acquisi-
tion of the country, but in a greater degree to the
increase of cultivation that has taken place under our
rule, for this increase of cultivation has reduced the
extent of the forests and waste lands in which alone
these larger wild animals are able to exist.

No doubt this explanation, to a certain extent, is
correct ; still it is not altogether satisfactory, for it
leaves some important facts altogether unexplained.
The disappearance of the larger animals has in several
cases occurred previous to our rule, and it has also
occurred where the conditions of the country have
apparently remained unchanged. The subject is one
which I do not possess sufficient knowledge to properly
discuss. I will, however, mention such facts as I
happen to be aware of They relate to three of the
largest and most powerful of the wild animals — the

304

DISAPPEARANCE OF WILD ANIMALS 305

rhinoceros, the elephant, and the Hon. And first as
to the rhinoceros.

The Emperor Babur, the founder of the Mogul
dynasty, entered India in the year 1525 of our era.
He halted with his army for some time at Peshawar,
and there amused himself, as he relates in his memoirs,
with hunting the rhinoceros. Now I cannot speak
with certainty, for I have never visited that part of
the Punjaub, but I do not believe that the rhinoceros
is now found either in the neighbourhood of Peshawar
or anywhere in the adjacent regions, nor that it was
there found at the time of our acquisition of the
country.

If in this belief I am correct, then it appears that
in the course of little more than three centuries the
rhinoceros had entirely disappeared from extensive
tracts of country where previously it was abundant ;
and it is to be noted that the country during the
whole of this period had continued under native rule :
its conditions, therefore, are not likely to have much
changed. We may presume that the forests and
wastes which sheltered the rhinoceros in the days of
Babur had but slightly, if at all, diminished in extent
at the period when the territory in which they are
•situated passed under the British rule.

But further, in the year 1803 we acquired all that
part of the upper provinces which lies at the base of
the Himalaya and Shewalic ranges. I have always
understood that the rhinoceros was then found through-
out the entire length of forest which extends below
these mountains ; but at the time when I had charge
X

3o6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

of the Doon the rhinoceros was never met with, nor
had been for many years, in any part of the forest
to the westward of the Ganges ; and to the east of
the Ganges it was rarely found except in the district
of Phihbect, which is situated close adjacent to the
frontiers of Nepaul. In the course, therefore, of about
half a century the rhinoceros had retired eastwards for
a distance of over two hundred miles.

During this period the forests, owing to the increase
of cultivation, had certainly very much diminished in
breadth ; also the wild animals within them had
been shot and hunted to a far greater extent than
in previous times. But these changes had not
caused the disappearance of the other animals. The
tigers, the deer, and the herds of wild elephants
roamed the forests as before, though in rather dimin-
ished numbers, Why then should the rhinoceros have
vanished ?

Next as to the elephant. There are two great forests
in India ; they are known among the natives, if I re-
member the names correctly, as the Chunglee Bun
(forest) and the Patree Bun. The one is the forest
which stretches along the base of the Himalaya ; the
other forms a belt across the continent of India. It
extends, running in a south-westerly direction, from
the river Ganges to near Bombay. It covers those
ranges of hills and low mountains that separate Hindo-
stan proper from the peninsula below it.

Three centuries ago both these forests abounded in
elephants ; the forest below the Himalaya does so still.
From the other forest the elephants have entirely or

DISAPPEARANCE OF WILD ANIMALS 307

almost entirely disappeared. Of their former abundance
we have historical proof.

The Emperor Babur, when proceeding on his expedi-
tion against Bengal, passed near the town of Calpee.
Describing it in his memoirs, he mentions that the
forests around were full of elephants. He remarks
further, the elephants were so numerous that the
greater part of the domesticated elephants in India
were obtained from among them. These forests form
the eastern portion of the great forest belt. I was once
for a short time stationed in their neighbourhood, and
my recollection is that no elephants at all then existed
within them ; certainly none were captured.

The Ayeen Akbari was composed more than half a
century later. In its account of the " soobah," or
province, of Agra, it is stated that elephants were very
plentiful in that province, and were there captured for
use. The forests in which the elephants were found
and captured must have been also a part of the great
belt, but one more to the westward. No elephants are
now captured in those forests, nor, so far as I am aware,
do any exist.

But, further ; the historian Firishtah, in his narrative
of the events of the reign of the Emperor Akbar,
mentions that on one occasion the Emperor, when
returning from Mando to Agra, came on a herd of wild
elephants in the forests of Sipree. These forests are
in the neighbourhood of Indore, and form a still more
westerly portion of the belt. Colonel Briggs, in his
English translation of Firishtah, comments on this
passage. He observes that then, at the time he wrote,

3o8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

there were no elephants in those forests. Colonel
Briggs' translation was published about seventy years
ago, and must have been composed, we may presume,
a little earlier. It would appear, therefore, that the
elephants had disappeared within a period not much
exceeding two centuries and a half

But the forests still exist ; at least, in my time
they did, for I have passed through them : and they
have always remained, as indeed have most of the
other parts of the great forest belt, under the native
rule.

I will now speak of the lion. As compared with the
tigers, the leopards, and some other of the larger beasts
of prey, the lions have at no time been very abundant
in India. The area of their range has also been more
restricted. They have never, for example, been found,
I believe, to the eastward of the Jumna. In the tracts
of country that border that river on the west the lions
were, however, in former times tolerably numerous ;
they were sufficiently numerous to render the hunt-
ing them one of the ordinary sports. There are several
descriptions of lion hunts and allusions to the sport
in the Ayeen Akbari and also in the memoirs of the
Emperor Jehangire. Some of them I will quote ; they
may perhaps be found entertaining.

The Ayeen Akbari describes one mode of hunting
the lion which it states was occasionally practised, and
which must certainly have been most hazardous. It
was as follows. A man mounted on a buffalo rode up
to the lion, and then urged on the buffalo to attack it.
A fierce combat of course ensued. In the end the

DISAPPEARANCE OF WILD ANIMALS 309

buffalo was victorious : he gored the h'on with his horns
and tossed him, and finally killed him.

The Emperor Akbar was very partial to lion-hunting,
and frequently indulged in the sport. On two occasions,
however, when pursuing it, he had narrow escapes ; they
are thus related : On the first occasion the Emperor,
armed with bow and arrows, came on a lion ; the lion
advanced ; the Emperor drew his bow and let fly an
arrow ; the arrow struck the lion ; he fell mortally
wounded. But as he fell a second lion suddenly
appeared, and with rage and fury bounded towards the
Emperor. It came near, then it paused, turned, and
fled, its instinct inspiring it with terror at the aspect of
the Emperor, '■' Heaven's favourite."

On the second occasion the Emperor's escape was due
to human intervention. The Emperor, as before, was
lion-hunting. Unexpectedly three lions rushed forward
to attack him. A young Uzbec noble was standing at
a little distance; beside him was the Emperor's favourite
horse " Kohpara " (mountain-sized) ; it was a horse
that feared neither lion nor elephant. Perceiving the
Emperor's danger, the young noble sprang at once on
Kohpara, and galloped forward to his assistance. One
lion he seized by the mane, and drove his dagger through
its throat. The lion fell dead. Then the young noble
caught hold of the other two lions by their necks, each
with one hand, and thus holding them, he dashed their
heads together, and with such violence that their skulls
were shattered, and they also fell dead beside their
companion lion.

This young noble afterwards gave an exhibition of

3IO HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

almost equal strength and courage before the Emperor
Jehangire, the Emperor Akbar's son and successor.
The Emperor was hunting lions in the Punjaub. A lion
had been wounded, but was still alive ; the noble
advanced to it, drew his sword, and with one blow
severed the lion's head from his body. As a reward for
his courage, the Emperor, as he records in his memoirs,
bestowed on the noble high promotion.

The Emperor Jehangire died in 1627 of our era.
We may conclude, I think, that at that time the lion
existed and was fairly numerous both in the Punjaub
and in the other tracts of country I have mentioned.
At the time of my arrival in India, which was some
years previous to the Mutiny, the lion was, I believe,
unknown in the Punjaub, and in the upper provinces
it was found only in the district of Banda, which is
situated in the extreme south-west.

I will conclude these remarks on the disappearance
of the lion with a few words regarding" the lion itself,
that is to say, the lion as found in India. I should
mention that I have never myself seen one, but I have
always heard it described as an animal very inferior to
the lion of Africa, both in size, strength, and also in
majesty of appearance. In Terry's account of his
residence in India an engraving is given of the standard
of the Emperor Jehangire. The engraving is stated to
have been copied from an Indian painting. The device
on the standard is a lion couchant, with a representation
of the sun either rising or setting immediately behind
it. The lion as depicted is a true lion, with shaggy
mane and tufted tail.

DISAPPEARANCE OF WILD ANIMALS 311

The disappearance of species of the wild animals
suggests thoughts as to the ultimate fate of the wild
animals individually. It is a subject on which when in
the forests I have often reflected. Many of the animals,
no doubt, fall victims to accident or are devoured by
the others that are beasts of prey ; but the greater
number, I imagine, escape both accident and enemies,
and live to grow old, and then I think that their end
must be sad. Those that wander alone when they feel
that their vital powers are failing may seek and find
a shelter where they may lie concealed and die un-
disturbed.

But those that move in herds will remain with the
rest so long as their strength enables them. Then they
will fall behind and be left, for among animals there
is but little compassion to weakness, to sickness, or to
age. Thus left, they will suffer : they will feel the
solitude, also the abandonment. Besides, they will be
haunted by fears. Enemies abound, and they must
be conscious that if discovered they now no longer
possess the power to resist or to escape.

For a longer or shorter period they will thus remain ;
then they will lie down and not rise again. Perhaps
they pass calmly away; perhaps the wolves, the jackals,
or the birds of prey find them and approach, and then
in their last hours they are tormented.

The animal dead, its body rapidly disappears. This
is not surprising, for in these forests there are multitudes
of creatures — birds, beasts, and even insects — ready to
devour it. But what is curious is that not only the
flesh, but also the bones, appear to vanish. The bones

312 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

of the smaller animals are doubtless eaten or split into
fragments and dispersed, but the bones of the larger
animals cannot thus be disposed of; and yet they
are rarely, if ever, seen. Perhaps when still fresh they
are dragged away and concealed, or perhaps they
become hidden by the grass and the falling leaves.

When first I made acquaintance with the forests
I was struck by the profusion of animal life, its
freedom, and its joyousness. Afterwards these feelings
were modified : I was the more impressed by the
cruelty, the selfishness, everywhere apparent, the
strong among the animals so merciless, the weak so
helpless. But after a still longer experience I returned
very much to my earlier sentiment. The forests are
not, indeed, for the animals an ideal world ; there is
death, terror, and much suffering and privation. But
then in the free life and otherwise there are com-
pensations. On the whole, as compared with the
animals that live subject to man, the lot of these
inhabitants of the wilds is one to be envied.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE TOUR CONTINUED

AFTER this description of the Doon, I will resume
the narrative of my tour. I remained at Dehra
about a week, and then I set off on my return. I
marched along the valley in the direction of the Jumna,
and re-entered the plains through one of the western
passes. The first march was a long one, but very
pretty — all fields of rising crops, interspersed with
groves of mango trees and neat little grass -hutted
villages. Now and then the road was bordered by
hedges of aloes or wild rose and white raspberry, and
always along the horizon on one side was the great
wall of the Himalaya, on the other the green, forest-
covered slope of the Shewalic. As we went on the
slope grew lower, and the peaks behind it came into
view ; they were so many, so small, and so sharp, and
so close together, that they somewhat suggested the
idea of a gigantic saw. Soon after this we reached
our encamping-ground.

Close beside the encamping - ground was a grove
of mango trees, and a little below it was a river. It
was the same small river I have already mentioned

3>3

314 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

which flows into the Jumna through the length of the
Western Doon, and whose waters may be said, with
a Httle exaggeration, to roll over sands of gold. To
pass away the time while the tents were being pitched,
I strolled down to the river and sauntered beside it.
During the rainy season the river contains a consider-
able amount of water. It was now nearly dry ; only
a small, shallow stream wandered through a wide bed
of sand and boulders.

Scattered over the bed there were numerous pools
of water. The water which had come down from the
mountains was clear as crystal. In nearly all the pools
there were shoals of the minutest of fishes ; they were
so small that each alone was hardly visible. I presume
that they had been but just recently hatched. It was
most interesting to watch them : they rose, they sank,
they darted from side to side ; occasionally they
stopped suddenly in the shade and seemed to dis-
appear ; in a minute or so they were swimming about
as before.

As I watched the little creatures, I began to speculate
as to their future. In the hot season most of the pools
would dry up, and then what would become of the
fishes ? Would they die, or would they burrow in the
sand and lie torpid, like the frogs, till the water came
again in the rains and revived them ? The largest
and deepest pools might, however, remain. But then,
as the fishes grew, how would the water contain
them or supply them with food? Would the fishes
remain small as they were till the next rains came,
or devour each other, or what ?

THE TOUR 315

As I thus speculated the sun began to approach
the horizon. Seen in its mellow beams, the river-bed
presented a reddish glow that reminded me of the
gold that was in it. There is really gold in
the sand, and that everywhere, though not much.
When work in the fields is slack, some few of the
villagers employ themselves in collecting it. They
obtain just about sufficient to supply themselves with
the means of subsistence. When formerly I was in
charge of the Doon, I happened once to be encamped
near this river, though higher up the stream. The
thought occurred to me to procure some of its gold
as a memento. I sent for two labourers who under-
stood the process, and set them to work to wash
the sand. They washed all day, and by the evening
they had collected about a teaspoonful of grains of
gold. I had them melted down, and they formed a
ball the size of a large pea. I kept the ball as a
curiosity till the Mutiny, when it was either lost or
plundered.

The tents were now pitched, and I returned to the
camping-ground, and there I found some visitors
awaiting me. There was a village near. The pro-
prietors had known me in former days ; they had
heard of my arrival, and were come to pay their
respects. While dinner was getting ready we sat and
chatted. We talked of old times and recent events,
and among these I learnt that a herd of elephants had
just lately come through the Shewalic and eaten up
a good part of their sugarcane crop. Very possibly
this might have been the same herd whose tracks I

3i6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

had seen behind the dak bungalow as I entered the
Doon. The proprietors took their loss cheerfully, as
they knew that they would get compensation for most
of it from the Government.

Next morning after breakfast the tents were struck,
and we continued our journey. We crossed the little
river, and proceeded up the road that led to the
mountains. The march was very pleasant ; the road
was good, the ascent was easy, and the forest on either
side most picturesque. The trees were tall and shady,
they grew near together, and there were but few patches
of coarse grass or brushwood. As we entered the
mountains the conditions a little changed ; the road
was rough and broken, and the ascent extremely steep,
but though steep, it was not long. In less than an hour
we reached the summit, and here we were to halt for the
night.

Our encamping-ground was a small level space a little
above the road. There were a good many stones lying
about it, and these, before the tents were pitched, it
was necessary to remove, for the place swarms with
scorpions, and it is under the stones and boulders that
they chiefly conceal themselves. The scorpions are not
only numerous here, but are also unusually large ; some
that I saw were the largest, blackest, most bloated,
venomous-looking creatures of their kind that I ever
beheld. But unless touched or trod on, they did not
appear at all aggressive. When exposed by turning
over a stone, their first impulse was always to escape
and conceal themselves, and it was wonderful into what
narrow cracks and fissures they were able to force their

THE TOUR 317

way and hide. It was also a matter of wonder to
me why they should so frequent this spot, and still more
what in it they could find to subsist on, for the whole
space about was nothing but stones, rock, sand, or
boulders.

Our encamping-ground, though in the midst of the
wildest of mountains, was not so solitary as might have
been expected. There was a police-station close by,
and also one or two sheds occupied by dealers in pro-
visions ; for the pass is much frequented, and most of
the travellers who go through it halt here for the night.
From a point not far off the Doon can be seen, and as
there was still some daylight remaining, I strolled along
the footpath that led to the point to take a farewell look.
The head policeman accompanied me. From the point
only the further slopes of the Doon were visible, and
over these the shadows were stealing. The view, all
forest and mountain, when seen thus was rather dreary.
A few white peaks of the far-away snowy range a little
relieved it. These could be seen through that vast gap
in the lower ranges along the bottom of which the river
Jumna flows.

By the time I returned to the camping-ground the
tents had been pitched, and many travellers had arrived
with carts, cattle, and ponies. The little halting-place
had quite a cheerful aspect. Among the other travellers
was a fakir. He presently came up to where I was
standing, made his salaam, and addressed me ; he was
a young man, and for a fakir he looked clean and
respectable. Moreover, as soon as he spoke I perceived
that he was educated. Before long he told me his story.

3i8 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

He had been a clerk in a Government office. There
had been some family quarrel, he thought himself
aggrieved, and so, half in anger, half in devotion, he had
assumed the yellow dress and become a fakir — one of
that class of fakirs who for ever wander from shrine to
shrine, " whose home," as the Persian saying poetically
expresses it, " is where the evening finds them."

As he told me his history, I soon perceived that he
heartily repented the step he had taken ; indeed, he
presently plainly told me so. He said he was weary to
death of his endless wanderings, and would gladly
return to secular life. I expressed my sympathy, and
then he asked me if, to enable him to do so, I would
bestow upon him some small appointment. There was
something in the man's manner and story that touched
me. Had it been possible, I would have granted his
request ; but, alas ! he had taken that step which there
is no retracing. The Hindoo who assumes the yellow
dress abandons for ever home, caste, and family ; cuts
himself at once adrift from all his former life.

He presently took his leave, and went back to the
halting-place, where were the other travellers. He ap-
proached a party who were commencing their evening
meal ; there he seated himself at a short distance, and
contemplated them much in the manner of a dog
awaiting scraps from his master's table. No doubt,
when their own hunger was satisfied, the travellers
would give him any food that remained.

The head policeman had gone off on some business.
He now returned. I pointed out to him the fakir,
and expressed some of the compassion his story had

THE TOUR 319

excited. In this feeling the head policeman did not
share. He entertained for the man and his class the
utmost contempt. He described them one and all as
an idle, worthless, drug-eating set of vagabonds ; and
his opinion was only what I have heard other natives
frequently express.

The fakirs of India have always been regarded as
one of the great curiosities of the country. Some brief
account of them may perhaps be not uninteresting to
the English reader.

The ordinary fakir, the one most commonly met
with, wears a yellow dress, and has long yellow hair.
The hair is plaited and coiled round his head, and when
thus coiled has much the appearance of a turban. The
yellow colour is, of course, the result of a dye, though
Ibn Batutu, the early Mahomedan traveller, supposed
that it was natural and was caused by excessive fasting.
The yellow is of an ugly brick-dust tint, and the hair
itself has a dead, withered appearance. The extra-
ordinary length of the hair of some of the fakirs used
to excite my astonishment till I learnt that the greater
part of it was artificial. Some is picked up at the bath-
ing-places, where the pilgrims shave their heads ; some
is their own hair, which has fallen or been combed out
and twisted in again ; while the very long strands have
been procured from the tails of horses.

The faces of these fakirs are always more or less
painted, and their eyes have that dull, glassy look which
arises from the excessive use of narcotics. The appear-
ance of the ordinary fakir is certainly not attractive ;
but it is almost beauty compared with that of many of

320

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

the special varieties. Some of these go nearly entirel)
unclothed. Their faces are thickly daubed with paint;
their naked bodies are smeared with wood ashes. Thuj
decorated, with glassy eyes and lean, emaciated figures
they have an aspect inexpressibly repulsive. Occa^
sionally it is such as almost to realize the mediaevc
representations of ghosts and evil spirits.

There are numerous varieties of fakirs. Some ard
solitary, and live independently ; others associate ii
communities, and own obedience to a superior. At thd
head of these varieties in point of respectability arfi
the Goshines, at the bottom the Jogees. The Goshineg
have settled habitations, often engage in trade, anc
not unfrequently acquire considerable wealth. Except
in some peculiarities of dress, they differ but little froi
the ordinary secular population.

To the Goshines the Jogees are an extreme contrast
They live always in the wastes and jungles, and mostlj
in small communities ; but they do not, I think, owi
obedience to any superior. They have no fixed abodes
but wander as their fancy inclines. Their appearance ii
to the last degree wild and squalid. Their long hait
hangs loose ; their dress consists of a strip of sackclotl
wrapped round their loins, and perhaps another broade^
strip thrown over their shoulders. The Jogees are no\
rarely seen, and as a sect they have sunk into insignil
ficance. Formerly they were the best known and mosj
celebrated of all the Indian fakirs. They were creditec
as, indeed, they still are, with the possession of magica
powers. In the most ancient of the Hindoo fairy tale
the Jogees as necromancers always occupy a conspj

THE TOUR 321

cuous place. In later times they were chiefly celebrated
as jugglers and acrobats, and as such they are frequently
mentioned in the memoirs and histories as performing
before the emperors.

Their performances struck all beholders with amaze-
ment, and so wonderful did they appear, that they were
attributed to supernatural agency ; and, indeed, if the
accounts of them are correct, by hardly any other means
could they have been accomplished. Ibn Batutu, the
traveller, relates that he saw one Jogee turn himself
into a cube, and in that form ascend to the skies ; and
the Emperor Jehangire in his memoirs describes exhi-
bitions even more wonderful. The Jogees are even now
believed to possess the secret of the transmutation of
metals, and to them is attributed the production of
all the silver at present to be found in the world ; for,
there being no mines of silver in India, none are sup-
posed to exist elsewhere.

In former days some of the fakirs were warlike.
They went armed and in large bands. Their contests
were, however, chiefly among themselves. It is men-
tioned in the histories that the Emperor Akbar once
came on two such bands of rival orders preparing for
combat. He endeavoured to dissuade them, but without
avail. Then he let them fight it out ; but, with his usual
humanity, when one side was defeated and commenced
to fly, he sent out his cavalry, and prevented the other
side from pursuing and slaughtering them.

The most singular of these warlike fakirs were the
"Nagas," or "unclothed." They carried arms, but, as their
name implies, they wore no garments. They did not,
Y

322 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

like the other fighting sects, confine their hostilities to
rival devotees : they engaged also in purely secular
contests. In the troublesome times that followed
the breaking up of the Mogul empire, the Nagas
took an active part in the numerous wars then pre-
vailing among the various native princes. They
were at one period, about the end of the last century,
oddly enough, partially commanded by an English
sailor, George Thomas, a man of some celebrity in
India at the time, and who afterwards succeeded in
establishing himself as the independent sovereign
of a small territory towards the confines of the
Punjaub.

The "Nagas" existed in the native states of Raj-
pootana till quite recently ; they may do so still. At
the commencement of the Mutiny they attached them-
selves to one of the English officials, and did good
service on behalf of our Government.

I believe that many among the fakirs have become
such from very pure and sincere motives. I have
conversed with some who impressed me as being,
according to their lights, truly pious ; but these were
those who affected no extravagances of dress or
behaviour, and who passed their lives quietly in
religious contemplation. As to the fakirs in general,
I do not think, from all I have seen and heard, that
the opinion of them expressed by the head policeman
was much exaggerated. The filthiness of the habits
and the horrible impurity of the practices that prevail
among them are hardly to be conceived. Of this
filthiness I once had experience ; it was at Kurd war.

THE TOUR 323

Struck by the beauty of one of the houses there
that line the river bank, I entered it to view the
interior. The owner, a raja in the west, occupied the
house only on the rare occasions when he attended
at the great fair ; meanwhile he permitted it to be
used by fakirs of all sorts as a kind of caravanserai. I
found it full of them. Words would fail to describe
its condition. The floors were covered with ordure
and other impurities. The fakirs with painted faces,
glassy, bloodshot eyes, and bodies smeared with wood
ashes, seemed hardly human. All were more or less
under the influence of narcotics ; some were entirely
stupefied. They sat motionless, leaning against the
walls, as if in a trance or dream. The place resembled
less a habitation of men than a den of the impurest
of animals. The filth, the odours, the aspect of the
inmates, excited in me a feeling of horror.

In former days the lower class of fakirs were
in the habit of inflicting on themselves torments,
often permanent injuries. These practices, steadily
discountenanced by our Government, are now almost
entirely discontinued ; by the educated natives they
were never approved of. These self-tortures frequently
consisted of merely temporary sufferings, and being
performed at fairs, they partook a good deal of the
nature of acrobatic exhibitions. A common one, and
which has often been described, was the swinging the
performer from a revolving beam by an iron hook
run through the muscles of the back. The more
serious self-tortures consisted of mutilations, distor-
tions, and the infliction of other permanent injuries,

324 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

as, for example, the keeping the hand clenched till
the finger-nails grew through the back or the fastening,
a limb motionless till it withered and stiffened. I
once saw a fakir who had thus treated his left arm.
The effect was horrible. The arm stood up from the
shoulder stiff and shrunk, like the dead branch of a
tree ; the fingers, pointing in different directions, re-
sembled the withered twigs.

The milder austerities, those not involving permanent
injuries, were, oddly enough, occasionally performed
for profit and for the benefit of another person.
Runjeet Sing, the celebrated sovereign of the Punjaub,
whose own habits were anything but ascetic, used, it
was said, to keep in his pay devotees of established
sanctity thus to perform penances on his behalf.

Among these minor austerities the sitting within a
circle of fire was one, according to tradition, formerly
much practised. In the Hindoo fairy tales the Jogee
is always represented as thus seated when performing
his incantations. The circle of- fire was a large ring
of smouldering logs. The devotee sat in the centre ;
the heat and the smoke rendered the position one of
much discomfort, even of considerable pain. I have
a shadowy recollection that I once, soon after my
arrival in India, beheld the performance of this
penance. It was on the bank of the Kala Nuddee, a
small stream that flows past the ruins of the ancient
city of Canauje. The circle was about twelve feet
in diameter, and the logs were very small and nearly
burnt out.

A painless but almost intolerably tedious form of

THE TOUR 325

austerity is the performance of a pilgrimage and
measuring the distance by successive prostrations of
the pilgrim's body. This when I left India was still
occasionally practised, I once beheld it in process of
performance. The pilgrim laid himself flat on the
ground, face downwards and with arms extended ;
then he rose, advanced to the spot where his head
had rested, and there again lay down, extended his
arms, and again rose and advanced ; and this he
continued to do till I grew tired of watching him.
This devotee, I was told, had commenced his journey
from some far-away place in the Punjaub. He was
proceeding to Juggernath. I forget in how many
years after his setting out he was expected to arrive
there.

Towards the end of the last century a fakir at
Benares attained great celebrity on account of a novel
form of austerity he had devised. He slept always on
a bed of iron spikes. The singularity of the penance
caused it to excite much interest even among Europeans.
The fakir and his bed became one of the sights of
Benares. An account of both drawn up by Mr.
Jonathan Duncan, the English Resident at Benares,
is to be found in one of the early numbers of the
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The account
is accompanied by a sketch of the bed and of the
fakir reposing on it. The bed as there represented
has much the appearance of an inverted harrow. This
fakir in his youth, so the account states, had been a
great traveller, and had even penetrated far into
European Russia. How in such remote northerly

326 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

regions he managed to exist, and still more to endure
the cold, is certainly a marvel.

The practices of the Indian fakirs excite in
Europeans only sentiments of ridicule and disgust,
and yet on reflection it must be admitted that they
are but the outcome of the same ideas that animated
the Christian ascetics in early and in mediaeval times,
the same belief that the natural impulses are impure,
and that the highest virtue consists in repressing them.
Simon Stylites on his column, or Thomas a Becket, his
person swarming with vermin, were but the analogies
of the Indian pilgrim who measures with his body
the road to Juggernath or the devotee who thinks it
meritorious to mutilate or distort his limbs. Only in
the Indian fakirs the principle is carried out further,
and the results are more apparent. Desiring to be
higher than man, they end in sinking below the level
of the brutes.

I must remind the reader in conclusion that the fakirs
I have been describing are the Hindoo devotees only,
to whom, strictly speaking, the term fakir ought not
to be applied. The Mahomedan religious mendicants,
the true fakirs, rarely, if ever, indulge in these
extravagances.

I may add that it was on seeing these Hindoo
devotees that I first properly comprehended the mean-
ing of the scriptural phrase " sitting in sackcloth and
ashes." I then understood that the ashes referred to
were not, as I had imagined, the cinders of coal, but
the almost impalpable powder of burnt wood. This
powder, of a bluish white, when rubbed over the body,

THE TOUR 327

gives it an appearance supposed to indicate the abandon-
ment of all worldly enjoyments. The appearance is
certainly most ghastly.

The reason for the habit of drug- eating, in which
the Hindoo devotees so indulge, may be that perhaps
without some such stimulant their life would be un-
endurable. I believe, too, that the drowsiness which
these narcotic drugs induce is regarded as favourable
to religious contemplation.

When I came out of my tent next morning I found
that all the travellers had departed, and with them also
the fakir. The travellers had gone on to their homes
or to where their business called them, the fakir to
continue while life endured his purposeless, endless
wanderings. I wonder if he is still pursuing them.
Most likely he has long ere this found rest, for his
appearance showed that he had already adopted the
habit of indulging in narcotics, and this habit, once
adopted, is never relinquished, and has but one
termination.

In my above account of the fakirs I have alluded to
the marvellous juggling performances of the Jogees
before the Emperor Jehangire. A brief description of
them may, I think, interest the reader. The tricks ex-
hibited were twenty-eight in number, and the Jogees
who performed them amounted to seven. Most of the
tricks call for no special notice, for, allowing for a little
exaggeration, they do not very much differ from those
exhibited at the present day ; but with regard to the
rest we may endorse the opinion of the Emperor that
they will be accepted as true only by those who have

328

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

seen them. But on this point the readers may judge
for themselves. Out of several I select the following : —

The tricks, we may conclude, were exhibited in one
of the courts of the palace where, according to custom,
there would be in the centre a large stone basin or
reservoir of water. Over the face of the reservoir the
Jogees drew a sheet. Presently they removed it and
displayed the surface of the water frozen, and that so
hard and so deep that the ice bore the weight of an
elephant which was made to walk across it.

In another performance the Jogees produced a chain;
it was fifty cubits in length. The Jogees raised one
end and threw it in the air. The chain went up and up
till the lower end just touched the ground, and it thus
continued to hang suspended from nothing. Next the
Jogees drew forward a sack; the mouth of the sack was
fastened: the Jogees opened it. Immediately from out
of the sack a dog appeared ; he walked to the chain
and commenced to ascend it. A wild boar followed,
and did the same, and after them, all likewise issuing
from the sack, came a panther, a lion, and then a tiger.
These three also, like the dog and the wild boar, went
to the chain and proceeded to climb it ; and each of the
five animals — the dog, the wild boar, the panther, the
lion, and the tiger — so soon as they reached the summit
of the chain vanished in succession in the air.

Marvellous as these two performances were, perhaps
the third I have selected is even more amazing. The
Jogees brought forward a man ; then they drew their
swords and cut him to pieces. This done, they col-
lected the pieces, piled them in a heap, and covered

THE TOUR 329

them with a cloth ; then, after a minute or so, they
raised the cloth, and there was the man beneath ahve
and well as before.

It was not only these seven Jogees who displayed
their skill before the Emperor. A young nobleman
exhibited a feat of manual dexterity, if we can believe
the Emperor's account of it, almost as surprising. But
this was on another occasion. He produced a small
glass bottle ; it was made of glass so delicate that the
slightest blow would break it. On the outer surface of
the bottle there was affixed the image of a butterfly
made of wax ; above the butterfly was fastened a single
peppercorn, and above the peppercorn a grain of rice :
a staff was then driven into the ground, and the glass
bottle with the wax butterfly, the peppercorn, and the
grain of rice placed on its summit.

The young noble now retired to a distance with his
bow and three arrows. He shot one arrow ; the arrow
flew through the air, just touched the butterfly, and
carried it away ; the next two arrows removed in
succession the peppercorn and the grain of rice : and
yet the glass bottle, delicate as it was, remained unhurt.
To show his admiration for this display of dexterity,
the Emperor appointed the young noble to a high
command in the army, and also bestowed on him in
marriage a niece of the Empress Noor Jehan.

Making allowance for exaggeration and rejecting the
descriptions that arc manifestly incredible, I do not
think that the conjuring performances of the Jogees
could have been more surprising than those of the
modern Indian jugglers. Some of these are certainly

330 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

most marvellous. They are by the natives, even by
the educated natives, attributed to magic. It is con-
sidered that the performers, the acrobats in especial, do
not really perform their tricks. They merely create an
illusion that causes the spectators to imagine that they
behold them.

Very much the same idea was entertained by the
early Europeans who visited India, only they attributed
the performances not to magic, but to satanic agency.
It is mentioned by one of the early travellers that the
chaplain to the English mercantile factory at Agra was
so convinced that Satan himself assisted these jugglers,
that he refused the sacrament to any of his congre-
gation who should witness their exhibitions. In order
to properly appreciate the skill of the Indian jugglers,
it must be remembered that their tricks are performed
without apparatus, generally with bare arms, and in the
open air, and in the brilliant Indian sunshine.

Most of the tricks of the Indian jugglers have been
described, but the following I have never seen noticed, ^
nor did I ever happen to meet any European who had
witnessed it, nor did I myself ever see it performed
except on one occasion, and that was soon after my
arrival in the country. The trick was this. A hole
was dug in the ground about two feet deep, and as
much across ; it was filled with water to the brim. The
performer, a young woman, then advanced to the hole.
She wore, as all native women do, a small ring in her
nose ; she took out the ring and dropped it into the
water ; then she lay down, her back on the ground,
her arms folded across her chest. Her head was over

THE TOUR 331

the hole ; she lowered it into the water, face and all
below the surface. She so remained for nearly a
minute. All the while we could see, from the agita-
tion of the water, that her head was moving. Then
she raised her head, and there was the ring, or one
precisely similar, again in her nose. How the trick
was effected I cannot imagine. It was evidently one
of very difficult performance, for the girl, when she
raised her head from the water, seemed to be much
exhausted.

In regard to the tricks performed by the Jogees
before the Emperor Jehangire, I may mention a curious
circumstance. One of the tricks, so far as I am aware,
is now quite unknown in India ; but of late years it
has, I believe, been exhibited as a novelty in Europe.
The trick was this. One of the Jogees produced a
book ; he turned over the leaves, they were all blank ;
he turned them over again, and on each ajDpeared a
coloured picture.

CHAPTER XX.

THE TOUR CONCLUDED

AFTER breakfast, while the tents were being struck
■^"^ and the baggage laden, I climbed to the summit
of one of the adjacent peaks. The peak was not very
high, but it was sufficiently so to enable me to get a
rather extended view of the small ranges and valleys
around. I have spoken already of the wildness of
these mountains, but I do not think that till now I
had ever fully appreciated it. The scene I looked on
resembled nothing so much as a stormy ocean of a
sudden turned to stone. It was a very chaos of
narrow, winding ridges, deep clefts of valleys between
them, and at short interv^als tall, sharp, craggy peaks.

I need not describe the pass, except that it was
slightly shorter and generally narrower ; it did not
much differ from the pass by which we had entered
the Doon. There were the same perpendicular cliffs,
and behind and above them the same miniature peaks
and ridges and the same small green slopes and
patches of forest. In these peaks and sandy precipices
was to be read the history of the mountains and the
abyss of time which that history discloses. These

332

THE TOUR 333

ranges must once have formed the bed of some van-
ished ocean. What countless ages must have passed
while that bed accumulated ; what aeons of centuries
must have gone by ere it was raised aloft and moulded
by the elements into the forms it now presents !

About midway in the pass there stands a rock which
is regarded by the natives as a great natural curiosity.
It is termed by them the "Summun Boorj," or "Octagon
Tower," the word "summun" being the Hindostanee
corruption of the Arabic term " musummin," that is,
" eight-sided." It was described to me, before I had
seen it, as a nearly exact counterpart of one of the
bastions of the Fort of Agra or of the palace of Delhi.
The description was, of course, much exaggerated ; still,
the rock being in shape roughly octagonal, and pro-
jecting from the flat surface of a perpendicular cliff, it
does really bear a curious resemblance to the bastion of
an Indian fortress. It is difficult to understand by what
process of weathering the rock could have acquired its
present shape.

The march all the way was either level or a slight
descent, and the road, though a mere track, as in the
other pass, was less broken and more free from stones.
We moved in consequence much more rapidly. It was
early in the afternoon when we reached our encamping-
ground. It was a small open space, just beyond the
mouth of the pass. The next morning we proceeded
on to the bank of the Jumna. The march was very
uninteresting. For the first few miles it lay through a
forest, or rather what lately had been one ; but most of
the larger trees had been felled. The forest now con-

334 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

sisted of little more than coarse grass, saplings, and]
brushwood.

Next we came on land just recently brought under
cultivation, and here the prospect was even more
melancholy : scanty crops, or fresh ploughed land,
alternated with wide tracts of bare waste, and every-
where appeared the blackened stumps of the trees that
had been burnt when the forest was cleared away. Here
and there as we advanced we came on small villages,
but they consisted only of grass huts. We were all
glad when the march was accomplished, and we had
arrived at the Jumna. Our encamping-ground was.
that picturesque, half-ruined building known as the
" Badshah Mahal," or " Palace of the Emperor." The
tents were pitched in the courtyard ; the horses were
tethered, and the carts and bullocks stationed just
outside.

The " Badshah Mahal " is a building little known
even in India. Its history is romantic. It may interest
the reader if I relate it.

The palace, according to tradition, was erected more
than two and a half centuries ago by the Emperor Shah
Jeahn, the same emperor who erected that most ex-
quisite of structures, the Taj, at Agra. The Emperor
had transferred his capital from Agra to Delhi. There
he founded a new city. A canal had in former days
conducted the water of the Jumna from the point
where it issues from the Shewalic to the Delhi of that
earlier period. The canal had long gone to ruin ; the
Emperor had it restored. When the works at the
head of the canal were completed, the Emperor came

THE TOUR 335

to inspect them, and this palace was built for his
accommodation.

But the presence of the court so near them was not
at all desired by inhabitants of the mountains, for in
the East the presence of the court means oppression.
They could not, of course, compel the Emperor to
depart, but they devised a scheme by which he might
be induced to do so. In the Himalayas, as in the Alps,
goitre is very prevalent. The villagers collected a
number of women in whom the complaint was strongly
developed, and sent them down to the palace. On some
pretext or other the women got admission to the
zenana. The ladies of the zenana were horrified at the
appearance of their swollen throats ; the women, as
they had been instructed, informed the ladies that their
swollen throats were caused by the water of the region.
They also added that if the court remained here the
throats of the ladies themselves would before long
become the same. Then ensued a scene : the ladies
believed the statement, and assailed the Emperor with
tears, entreaties, and threats of suicide. In the end the
Emperor had to yield, and returned to Delhi.

Such is the tradition. It is current all over the
mountains as well as in the neighbouring parts of the
plains; I have over and over again heard it related.
Nevertheless a well-educated Mahomedan, the manager
of a property near, assured me that there was no truth
in the story whatever. The palace, he said, was merely
erected, as a compliment to the Emperor, by the noble-
man to whom the superintendence of the works of the
canal had been committed ; but the Emperor, he said.

336 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

1

never occupied it, never even visited the spot, or if
he did it was only in the course of some hunting ex-
pedition. Still, however, it is difficult to believe
that a tradition so widely spread should have had no
foundation.

But, whether the Emperor ever occupied the palace
or not, his stay in it could not have been long, nor
was the visit, if it really occurred, again repeated. A
century passed away, and the Mogul empire was in
the throes of dissolution. Then followed a long period
of war and confusion. The population diminished ; the
land around fell gradually out of cultivation ; where
there had been fields and harvests, the coarse grass, the
trees, and brushwood grew up. Ere long the palace
became embosomed in forest ; and so, silent and
deserted, visited only by the wild animals, for near a
hundred years it thus remained. Except in the im-
mediate neighbourhood, the very tradition of its exist-
ence passed away ; then by a sort of accident it was
discovered.

One of the ancient emperors had constructed a canal
to irrigate the upper portion of the Doab, that is, the
tract of country that lies between the Ganges and the
Jumna. The water of this canal was drawn from
the Jumna at a point a few miles below this palace.
The canal had long gone to ruin, and when the Doab
came into our possession it was little more than a dry
trench, partly filled with pools of water during the rains.
Some thirty years after we had acquired the country,
the Government decided to restore the canal. For the
construction of the dam and other buildings at the canal

THE TOUR 337

head bricks were required. The engineer in charge
was preparing to have them manufactured, when the
owner of a village in the neighbourhood happened to
call on him. The engineer consulted him as to the best
place for erecting the kilns. The village proprietor
informed the engineer in reply that the doing so was
quite unnecessary, for a few miles off in the forest there
were bricks in any amount lying ready to his hand ; and
then he related to him the story of the palace.

The engineer, mounted on an elephant and accom-
panied by a gang of labourers, set out to discover it.
They passed through miles of forest, often having to
cut a track with their axes ; and then they came, not,
as might have been expected, on a collection of mere
crumbling ruins, but on a real palace, with halls, court-
yards, enclosing walls, gateways, and bastions, and all
almost as perfect as when, near two centuries before,
the Emperor had abandoned it. The scene must have
recalled the tale of the sleeping beauty ; and, to com-
plete the resemblance, there in the great hall lay a
beauty ready to receive them, not, indeed, an en-
chanted princess, but a magnificent tigress. She lay
there surrounded by her cubs, as in ancient days may
have reposed the ladies of the zenana.

It is a pity that the palace as it then was was not
left to continue. The greater portion, I regret to say,
was demolished, and the materials carried away and
used in the construction of the dam, the bridges, and
the other buildings of the canal. I have been told by
those who had seen them that the parts of the palace
thus destroyed possessed but little of beauty or archi-
z

338 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

tectural interest ; that they were mostly merely en-
closing walls, offices, or apartments for servants. Still
all lovers of the picturesque must regret that they were
not allowed to remain, for we should then behold the
palace complete as when the Emperor left it ; we now
see only isolated buildings and fragments of walls.

At the time of my visit the palace was in the posses-
sion of a Christian family, who had obtained a grant of
a large tract of the freshly cleared land in its vicinity.
When visiting their property they were in the habit of
residing in what remained habitable of the palace ; and
this, for the short period of my stay, their agent invited
me to occupy. This habitable portion of the palace
was very small ; it consisted of only two rooms, a very
large hall, the same in which the tigress had taken up
her abode, and one smaller half- octagonal chamber
beyond. This chamber formed the summit of a great
tower that rose sheer from the river some forty feet or
more below.

The view from the windows was one of the wildest
I ever beheld. At the base of the tower the river ran
deep and still ; further away it was shallower, and
flowing over rocks and boulders, was broken into a
thousand eddies, often into long sheets of foam. The
opposite shore displayed a desolate expanse of sand
and stones, interspersed by patches of brushwood and
tall, coarse grass ; then a long slope of forest led up to
a very wilderness of mountains. The prospect was
unrelieved by field or village or any habitation of man.
As the day declined the loneliness of the scene became
oppressive ; when night came on it was still more so,

THE TOUR 339

for then the forest woke up, and to the melancholy,
monotonous murmur of the river below were added the
cries of the wild animals in the woods and wastes
beyond, among them, and more frequent than I had
ever heard it before, the deep, dull roar of the tiger.

Once or twice during my stay at the palace I amused
myself in the afternoons by short excursions on the
river. There was a rude, clumsy fisherman's boat lying
somewhere on the bank ; in this I had myself rowed up
the stream, and then I floated down again with the
current. Seen from the water, the appearance of the
palace was very imposing. The bank of the river on
which the palace stood was — I speak from memory — at
least forty feet or more in elevation, and for the entire
distance to which the palace extended, this lofty bank
had been scarped perpendicular, and faced with a
massive wall. The wall and the great octagon tower
which projected from it rose from the stream with an
aspect of much grandeur. Once I crossed the river
and paid a visit to the head of the canal.

The head of the canal is some few miles above the
palace, not far from the spot where the Jumna issues
from the Shewalic. The river is formed by the union
of two streams, the Jumna and the Tonse, and of the
two the Tonse is by far the largest. It is broader,
deeper ; it bears along many times the greater volume
of water. In appearance it is the most imposing, and
yet, while the Jumna is known throughout the world,
few people, save in its immediate neighbourhood, are
aware even of the existence of the Tonse. I suppose
this pre-eminence accorded to the Jumna must be in

340 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

consequence of its more illustrious origin, for, while the
Tonse rises only among the lower mountains, the
Jumna issues from one of the loftiest peaks of this
western portion of the true Himalaya, the ranges of
perpetual snow.

The old palace could never have been large, at least
for an Indian palace, but the outer walls must have
enclosed a considerable area. The principal structures
that now remain are the hall and chamber I have
described, a gateway much ruined, and a courtyard.
This courtyard must formerly have been the garden,
and have been adorned with canals of water, basins,
and fountains. I was told that when first discovered
a large basin or reservoir of white marble stood on the
terrace before the hall. I could not ascertain what had
become of it.

Judging from the buildings that remain, the palace
could not, even when entire, have possessed any special
architectural beauty. It displays, however, all that
massive solidity of construction combined with that ex-
quisite finish and delicacy of detail which characterises
the Mahomedan buildings of the Mogul period. Of this
delicacy and finish the raised walks of the courtyard
are a beautiful illustration. They are formed of brick,
as, indeed, is nearly the whole of the palace ; but the
bricks which compose the surface of the walks are those
extremely small ones that in hardness and smoothness
of texture are almost equal to terra cotta. They are
arranged so as to form simple but very pretty designs,
and so small are the bricks, and so exquisite is the
manner in which they are joined, that the designs to

THE TOUR 341

some extent have the appearance and beauty of
mosaics.

I remained a few days at the palace, and then I
returned along the bank of the canal, that canal whose
restoration, as I have mentioned, led to the discovery of
the palace. The first march was to the head of the
canal, the point where it receives its water from the
Jumna. The length of the march was not very great,
but it had brought about an entire change in the
scenery, a change that, I must confess, I found agree-
able. Instead of the wilderness of waste and forest,
I now looked over a wide, open plain, half enclosed by
long blue lines of distant mountains, and here and there
above them rose some of the glistening peaks of the
snowy range. The plain was still mostly wild, but
not far off there were fields with rising crops, groves
of mango trees, and some few villages.

Where the plain was uncultivated, it was covered by
a low, shrub-like plant, which produces a curious berry.
The berry is oval in shape, very small, of the colour of red
coral, and of almost equal hardness ; on the broader end
is a little round patch of black. This berry is termed
the "ruttee," and is used all over India by goldsmiths
and jewellers as the standard by which small ornaments,
pearls, and precious stones are weighed. Though less
in weight, it corresponds to the " carat " of the jewellers
of Europe. There must be countless millions of these
berries in use over India, yet I do not know of any
place, except this belt of waste land below the Shewa-
lic, where they are found, and, moreover, from this part
of the waste I never heard of their being exported.

342 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

I remained for the day at the canal head. The next
morning I continued my march, proceding, as before,
along the canal bank. Canals, as a rule, are straight
and formal ; but this canal, laid out in unscientific days,
is different. It bends, it winds, it narrows, and widens
again with all the variety of a river. The banks are
broad, and are bordered with avenues of shady trees.
Bridges cross it continually, and at intervals of every
few miles there are locks and falls ; and at many of the
falls the water is utilized to turn small mills for the
grinding of corn. Before the first march was completed
I had entered the cultivated country ; the second march
brought me home.

I have mentioned that the late harvest had been
deficient in quantity, and that some fears were enter-
tained that it would be followed by a scarcity. Before
the cold weather had passed these apprehensions were
realized. There was such want of food, so much
distress, that the Government thought it necessary to
give assistance. The assistance was given quickly and
liberally. In all the districts where the scarcity pre-
vailed relief works were established, and those in
want of food were provided with employment. The
employment was chiefly on the roads, and consisted
in repairing or improving them.

As the men thus employed amounted in every
district to many thousands, a large number of officials
were required to overlook and to pay them ; and these
officials had to be selected and appointed in extreme
haste. Under such circumstances, there was oppor-
tunity for much peculation which the European

THE TOUR 343

authorities were quite powerless to prevent, and,
according to rumour, these opportunities were very
generally taken advantage of. More relief money, it
was said, was given by the Government than was
distributed, and pay was drawn for many more minor
officials than were ever really employed. Of the
correctness of this last rumour I once had an amusing
illustration.

In the course of my morning walk I came on one
of these relief parties ; they were engaged in repairing
the road. The overseer in charge was standing by, and
with him were several children. All were quite small ;
the youngest he carried in his arms. The sight struck
me as odd. I asked my attendants what was its
meaning, whose the children were, and why they were
there. My attendants smiled, and informed me that
the children were the overseer's and also his assistants,
and were now engaged, they supposed, in overlooking
the labourers.

The overseer, when I inquired of him, admitted the
correctness of my attendants' statement. The children
were, he said, his assistants, and he added that they
performed their duties as such most efficiently, even
the child in his arms never for an instant permitting
the labourers to loiter or idle. To confirm this
assertion, he called the child's attention to some
labourers close by. They had paused in their work
to listen to our conversation. The child had a switch
in his hand. Under his father's direction, he waved the
switch at the men, and made some inarticulate noises,
for he was too young to speak plain. The men appre-

344 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

ciated the situation, made a pretence of being frightened,
and commenced to shovel up earth again with intense
assumed activity.

The higher rehef officials had, of course, greater
opportunities of enriching themselves, and that they
occasionally availed themselves of them I had also
about this time an example. A man came before me
as a witness in some case. I had known him when
I had previously held office in these parts. He was
then very poor ; he had some small appointment and
nothing besides. He now, from his dress and manner,
appeared to be very well off. When he had retired,
I remarked to my office people on the change in the
man's circumstances, and inquired how it had occurred.
The answer I received was suggestive. He had been
entrusted with the distribution of the relief funds on
the occasion of the last scarcity.

I will relate another story more serious. I must first
explain that the grain in India is not stored in barns
or warehouses, as it is here, but in pits beneath the soil.
These pits in shape a good deal resemble the "oubliette"
dungeons of our mediaeval castles. They are round
and deep, grow narrow at the top, and have for their
entrance only a small circular aperture. The entrance
is covered over with earth, and the situation of the pit
often is known only to the owner.

About the year 1836 — I forget the exact date — there
occurred a famine in these upper provinces. I have
always heard it spoken of as one of the most terrible
ever known. The English Government made every
effort to relieve it ; nevertheless whole villages were

THE TOUR 345

nearly depopulated, and the poor died in thousands.
So extreme was the distress, that all the distinctions
of caste were disregarded. The Governor-General was
then marching up the country. Wherever his camp
halted, cooked food in abundance was laid in great
trays on the ground. I have been told by those who
beheld it that as soon as the trays were laid whole
crowds of starving poor, Hindoos and Mahomedans,
Brahmins and men of the lowest castes, rushed forward
almost like famished animals to devour it.

Many years passed by, the famine had become a
memory, when there again arose fears of a scarcity.
In the district where I then was, diligent search was
made for concealed grain-pits. In one village several
such pits, and very large ones, were discovered ; they
were full of grain, but the grain, alas ! was all decayed
and putrid. It was then ascertained that the pits had
been filled with grain by their then owner just previous
to the great famine. When the famine occurred the
price of grain rose and rose, but the owner would not
sell, waiting till the price should rise still higher. In
the end he overreached himself; the crisis of the famine
passed, and prices fell, and the owner, disappointed of
the profit he had hoped to make, in his anger let the
pits remain unopened, as they were.

The discovery of the pits made some sensation
among the natives. The decay of the grain was re-
garded as a judgment, for through the avarice of this
one man, the owner, many hundreds of his fellow-men
no doubt had perished.

India, from time immemorial, has been always sub-

346

HAUNTS AND HOBBIES

ject to famines. It was formerly thought that the
famines were much the result of the native misgovern-
ment, and that under our humaner and more enlightened
rule they would cease. Experience has shown that
these opinions were erroneous. Good government may
alleviate the sufferings of famines, but it is powerless
in India to prevent their occurrence, for they arise from
a deficiency of the rainfall, and over the rainfall man
has no control.

PLYMOUTH
WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON
PRINTERS

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