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WILD LIFE
CANARA AND GANJAM.
GORDON S. FORBES,
Madras C. 8. (Retired.)
LONDON :
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO.,
PATERNOSTER SQUARE.
1885.
l<2,35
r •'.
(D
Butler & Taniier.
Th« Sclwood Priiiting WorliS,
Frome. and Loudon.
TO
Bear antJ ^onouretJ
OF
SIR HENRY CONYNGHAM MONTGOMERY, BART.,
Late of the Madras Civil Service.
437032
INTRODUCTION.
AN author is only justified in offering
to the public a record of trivial and
unimportant matters when he can
satisfy curiosity by telling of things
and people not generally known, and
scenes remote from the highways of
the world.
I hope that my chapters of Indian
experiences may be held to have this
justification, and I would fain see de-
scriptions, from the pens of those who
know them well, of the many other little-
vi INTRODUCTION.
known regions and races which are
scattered up and down the far-extend-
ing dominion committed to English
keeping. At present such narratives
are rarely to be met with, though a
few good specimens have recently ap-
peared.
Only in this way can a true concep-
tion be given of the many varied aspects
of life and nature to be found in the
hill and forest tracts of India ; her
city populations and agricultural com-
munities are better known, though
much that is interesting remains untold,
owing to the fatal barrier of caste,
which shuts off the European from
intimate acquaintance with Hindoo life.
My experience of Canara extended
INTRODUCTION. vii
from October, 1844, to near the close
of 1848; and I served in Ganjam as
collector, magistrate, and agent in the
hill tracts from August, 1858, to Sep-
tember, 1867. The illustrations for the
Canarese portion of my narrative have
been supplied by my friends Mr. Ward
and Mr. Ballard, the frontispiece being
from a painting of Mr. Ballard' s, taken
from an original sketch of the falls of
Gairsappa by another old friend, the
late Mr. Charles Whittingham; the
coast scenery is from very accurate
drawings by Mr. Ward, and the en-
campment at Neelcoond is from a sketch
of my own.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory. — Physical Features and Boundaries
of Canara. — Mad Raja of Coorg. — His
Cruelties and Whims. — Journey North-
wards. — The Munchiel. — The Scenery. —
Fishing at Condapoor. — Belikeri. — Its Bay.
— Cove of Beitcole. — Isolation . pp. 1-15.
CHAPTER II.
The Sawuntwari Rising. — Its Temporary Suc-
cess.— Our Precautions. — The Sheiksendies
and Dessaies. — Uses of the Bayonet. — A
Veteran of the Old School. — Progress of
Operations. — Captain Tainton's Wager. —
His Death.— The Forts.— Colonel Wallace's
Operations.— The Elephant Rock— End of
x TABLE OF CONTENTS.
the Rising. — Teak Forest. — Ravine of the
Kala Nuddee.— The Races of Soopah.— Ori-
gin of the Sidhis. — Katijah Beebe. — Breed
of Buffaloes.— The Bull and the Tiger.— The
Toucan ... .pp. 16-38.
CHAPTER III.
Belikeri. — Laterite Cliff and its Caves. — Nux
Vomica. — Wild Mangosteen. — Sea Otters. —
Porcupines, and How to Trap Them. — Our
Fishing Village. — Byroo and his Men. —
Alligator. — Its Power of Ejecting Things
Swallowed. — Little Nap. — Harpooning Fish.
— The Great Saw-fish. — Manner of Feeding.
— Pearl Oyster. — The Iguana. — Jose Preb-
hoo's Stories. — The Tigress Stops the Way. —
Bear and Postal Runner. — A Fight with a
Python. — Another Combat. — The Bluebottle
and the Ants . . pp. 39-62.
CHAPTER IV.
Honama and his Men. — Their Forest Cultivation.
— Their Nets and Manner of Hunting. —
Netting a Tiger. — Critical Moment. — Ancola
and its Fort. — The Man-eater and its End. —
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi
Another Leopard.— The Kill.— The Vital
Point.—" Don't Shake his Tail."— A Fish in
a Puddle.— " From Whence did it Come?"
— Effect of Monsoon on Wild Animals. —
A Hand-to-Hand Fight. — Man-eater near
Sedasheghur. — He Mocks us. — Officer Killed
near Hyderabad by a Tigress . pp. 63-83.
CHAPTER v.
Gokern — Pilgrim, and Bear. — Propensity of Bears
to Get at the Brain. — The Rocks of Yaana. —
Wild Bees and their Prejudices. — The Bees
and the Surveyors. — Approach to Yaana. —
Its Appearance. — Difficulty of Explaining
the History of the Rocks. — The Bison.— Its
Appearance. — The Dorsal Ridge. — A Bull of
Nineteen Hands. — Another Bull. — A Bison
Stalk. — Another Encounter. — Invulnerability
of the Head. — Manoel. — His Courage. — An
Instance . . . . pp. 84-106.
CHAPTER VI.
Sirci. — A Naturalist and His Ways. — Bison's
Power of Leaping. — Mr. Ward's Collections.
— Bison Calf. — Flying Squirrel. — Ap-
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
preaches to Sirci.— The Cotton Trade.— The
Carriers of India. — Their Services to the
Country and to our Armies. — Encampment
at Neelcoond. — Swimming the River. — Ob-
stinacy of Cotton Traders.— The Falls of
Gairsappa. — Approach through the Forest. —
Novel Kind of Piers for Bridges. — Descrip-
tion of the Falls. — An Adventurous Seat. —
Lines on the Cataracts . pp. 107-129.
CHAPTER VII.
Visit to the Haigah Brahmins. — Suicide or Mur-
der ?— Difficulties.— The Dug-out.— A Man
of Action.— The Haigah Village.— Leeches.
— My Lodgings. — Arica Gardens and Ter-
races. — The Cow-house. — Description of
Arica Palm and Mode of Gathering Nuts. —
The Monkeys. — Cardamoms. — Blossom and
Manner of Cultivation in some Forests. —
Spontaneous Generation . pp. 130-142.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Nilgherries. — Their General Aspect. —
Climate.— Flowers.— Game.— Ibex. — A Buck
before Breakfast. — Emerald Moss. — Toda
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii
Buffaloes.— The Toda Race.— Landslip.— We
Sight Ibex.— Doe and Kid.— The Buck.—
The Elk and their Haunts. — A Stalk. — Re-
bellion among the Members. — We Lose the
Stag. —My Friend's Stalk— Surprise. — A
Tiger Stalks Him. — Wild Dogs. — Their
Respect for the Domestic Dog. — My Meeting
with Them. — Elephants. — Death of Mr.
Wedderburn. — Mr. M.'s Meeting with a
Rogue Elephant . . . pp. 143-169.
CHAPTER IX.
Ganjam. — Its Races. — Dispossession. — Ooriyah
Zemindars. — Khonds and Sourahs. — Human
' Sacrifices. — Infanticide. — No Amalgamation
of Races has Occurred. — No Affinity of
Language. — Khonds Ignorant of Use of
Milk. — Tobacco. — Weapons. — The Gond
Potters.— The Bottle Gourd.— The Potter's
Model. — My Duties in Ganjam. — Agency for
the Hill Tracts. — Physical Conformation of
the District. . . . pp. 170-180.
CHAPTER X.
The Chilka. — Its Origin and Extent.— Fish. —
Birds. — Islands. — Birds' Eggs. — Inhabitants
xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS.
of Bird Island. — Young Herons and Peli-
cans.— Deer Island. — Antelope. — An Ante-
lope Drive Extraordinary. — Trade of the
Lake. — Oil-cake and Manure for Cane. — The
Lake Boats . . . . pp. 181-192.
CHAPTER XL
Rhumba. — The House. — Mr. S. and His Mode of
Life. — His Administration. — What Became
of his Accounts. — He Refuses to Quit. — Dis-
missal and Exposure. — Sale of Rhumba
House. — Sequel of Mr. S.'s History. — Visi-
tors.— Other Visitors at Midnight. — Dilemma.
The Gipsy Shikaries. — Their Trained Ante-
lopes.— Visit to the Antelope Grounds, and
Capture of a Wild Buck. — Manner of Har-
nessing the Buck. — His Training. — Land-
rail's Nest. — Cobra aud Rails. — Fox and
Rails. — Alligator and Wild Duck. — Coast
Lagoons and Canals . . pp. 193-212.
CHAPTER XII.
Chetterpur. — Abandonment of Granjam. — The
Tumpra. — Use of the Pandanus. — Fox
Coursing. — Wolves. — Shepherd and Python.
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xv
— Other Snakes. — Bears and Sugar-cane.—
Drawing a Bear. — Mr. Minchin Wounded
by a Bear. — A Sentinel. — Mad Jackals. —
Three of our People Bitten. — Stramo-
nium a Cure for Hydrophobia. — Its Use
by Thieves. . pp. 213-230
CHAPTER XIIL
Mahendra. — Mystery of its Temples. — Ooriyah
Ignorance about Them. — Legend of the
Pandava Brothers. — Small Temple on the
Summit. — Difficulty of Building it in Such
a Place. — Other Temples and Grottos. —
Interrupted Work. — Raja of Mundasa.— His
Spirit and Perseverance. — Interviews with
Two Young Officers. — Our Visit to Ma-
hendra Appreciated. — Vassal Sourahs. —
Independent Sourahs. — Cottage on Ma-
hendra . . . .pp. 231-242.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Khond Highlands. — Meria Sacrifice. — Kid-
napped Victims. — Their Indulgent Treat-
ment.— Manner of Sacrifice. — Discovery by
Captain Macpherson. — Rescued Merias. — Re-
xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS.
captnred by Khonds. — The Special Agency
for Suppressing Meria under Colonel Camp-
bell.— Force at his Disposal. — His Success
and that of Captain MacNeil. — Attempt to
Make an Agricultural Community of Rescued
Merias. — Its Failure. — Limits of the Khond
Country. — Survey Maps. — Khond Cultiva-
tion.—Full Dress.— Khond Trade.— Khond
Tribal Combats. — My "Work as Special
Agent. — Change in the Character of the
Force. — Police Patrol and Measures to Stop
Infanticide. — Absence and Return to Gan-
jam, January, 1866. — Bad News. — Encounter
of Police with Kootiya Khonds. — The
Soorada Khonds. — Collisions with Them. —
Simli. — Our Captives. — Submission of the
Tribe. — Khond Women. — The Oath.— A
Rattle.— Sal Trees.— The Famine.—" The
Cry of the Land " . pp. 243-270.
* ^ * CMV j Y
ife in g0rt|
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
THE following chapters record some ex-
periences of a residence in a wild and
beautiful forest region, remote from the
more civilized districts of southern In-
dia. The writer was charged with the
revenue and magisterial administration
of that portion of Canara which extends
for about fifty miles along the borders
of Goa and Belgaum, and found himself
isolated from European surroundings,
ft WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
but in a position to see much of the
unsophisticated races who lived and
laboured in and around the great teak
forests of North Canara, and of the wild
animals which abound there.
In 1845 North and South Canara
formed one great province, with a coast
line of about two hundred and fifty
miles, ending at the Portuguese frontier.
On its eastern side the little kingdom
of Coorg, the Mysore dominions, and
the districts of Darwar and Belgaum
covered a frontier of three hundred
miles, at an average distance of fifty
miles from the western coast; and of
the entire area thus enclosed, by far the
greater portion was hill and forest.
Before leaving Mangalore for my
charge in the north, I heard from the
IN TROD UCTOR Y. 3
then collector of Canara a singular epi-
sode in the career of the mad Rajah
of the neighbouring state of Coorg,
of which he had himself been an eye-
witness.
The Government of India had for a
long time vainly endeavoured by counsel
and remonstrance to curb the cruel
excesses of the tyrant of Coorg, and it
became necessary at last to coerce and
depose him ; but before resorting to
force a last attempt was made to bring
him to reason by deputing Mr. Russell,
a member of the Madras Government,
who was personally known to the Rajah,
to visit and advise him.
One day while Mr. Russell was urging
the utter hopelessness of opposition to a
power like that of the British Govern-
4 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
merit, the Eajah turned to him and said,
"I know, Russell Sahib, that your
Government is powerful, but its com-
mands are not obeyed as implicitly as
mine are." " Here, you two/' said he,
calling two of his people, "climb up that
cocoa-nut tree." Up went the men and
looked round for orders before descend-
ing, "Let go, hands and feet!" The
men instantly obeyed and were both
killed by the fall. " Call the wives and
children of these men," pursued the
Rajah. The poor women appeared
before him trembling but in silence.
" What is this which has been done ? "
" The Rajah's good pleasure has been
done," they answered. Then the
murderer turned triumphantly to Mr.
Russell.
IN TROD UCTOR Y. 5
On another occasion he questioned
his visitor closely as to the person in
whom the supreme power was vested in
England, and was told that it was the
Queen. "But you say," objected he, "that
the Queen cannot do everything she
might wish to do ; who is above her ? "
" There is no one, only God is her
superior," said Mr. Russell. " God !
Please write that name down for me,
that I may remember it." This was
done, and the matter dropped. Mr.
Russell returned unsuccessful to Madras,
and troops were sent against the Rajah.
The Coorgs fought bravely for their
tyrant, strong stockades defended the
approaches to his capital, and these
were only forced at the cost of many
lives. The Rajah was then made
6 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
prisoner, our troops occupied the town,
and the officers were quartered in the
palace, the largest hall in which was set
apart for a mess-room.
Some surprise was excited when it
was found that all round this hall, just
under the cornice, were emblazoned the
titles and name of the Eajah, and im-
mediately below them the name of God,
under which again appeared the name
and title of the Queen of England.
This was the madman's way of announc-
ing his superiority to all other powers in
heaven or in earth !
I started for the Bay of Belikeri, my
head-quarters in North Canara, in the
month of December, when a steady and
continuous northerly wind renders sail-
ing up the coast tedious. I therefore
INTRODUCTORY. 7
travelled by land in a munchil, a
simple and ingenious contrivance pecu-
liar to the western coast of India, and
which merits special description.
A stout canvas hammock, the ends of
which are prevented from collapsing by
crossbars of wood let into the extre-
mities of the canvas, is suspended by
chains from a pole of nine or ten feet
long. The chains are fastened to rings
in the crossbars, and the hammock
hangs about two feet below the pole ; a
thin mattress and a pillow complete its
internal equipment, and the traveller is
secured from sun and rain by a broad
waterproof top which rests on the upper
side of the pole, and can be slanted at
will to either side. The munchil is
very comfortable, and so light that four
8 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
bearers easily run along with it at five
miles an hour. My first night's run in
this conveyance brought me all the way
to Coondapoor, quite sixty miles north
of Man galore, the point from which I
started.
Nothing more beautiful is to be seen
anywhere in Europe or Asia than the
coast of Canara. Mountain spurs from
the main range of the Western Ghauts
run down to the coast and sometimes
extend far out to sea, wooded to the
water's edge, and mapping out broad
bays or landlocked coves; in other
places they flank the estuaries of navig-
able rivers which come winding among
the hills from the east, bordered — as
the valleys open out and admit of culti-
vation— by plains of brilliant green. All
INTRODUCTORY. 9
this wealth of picturesque outline is
bathed in the soft brilliancy of tropical
atmosphere ; and the effect, to eyes un-
familiar with the scene, is a happy
stupor of admiration. Many a half -hour
did I waste in helpless gazing, when I
reached my future home at Belikeri,
where the charms of the coast seem to
culminate.
Coondapoor was a fair specimen of
western coast scenery, but I am chiefly
concerned to describe the curious sort
of fishing I saw there.
There was in that neighbourhood, in
the grounds of an ancient temple, a
rectangular sheet of water of fifty or
sixty yards wide ; and in this pond were
fish of a kind not to be found elsewhere,
and quite unique in their habits, inas-
io WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
much as it was impossible to net them
in the ordinary way, and they were to
be caught, if caught at all, in the air
and not in the water. The pond was
preserved and the fish were seldom dis-
turbed; but I was much pressed to
attend and witness the process of net-
ting them.
I found a canoe provided for me, and
took my seat in it. But first of all about
twelve men advanced into the water in
line at intervals of ten feet or so, each
holding upright before him, above the
surface, a stout pole. From pole to pole
along the line stretched a net of six or
seven feet broad, so that as the fishermen
proceeded to wade slowly right through
the pond up to their chins in water, an
upright net held above water moved with
INTRODUCTORY. 11
them. I followed behind the net in my
canoe. "When we had got more than
half-way across, and were approaching
the opposite bank, there rose suddenly
from the water a numerous flight of
large fish, most of which leaped clean
over the six-foot screen of net, a few
only sticking in the meshes. One fish
fell in the canoe, and another leaped al-
most in my face. This went on until we
got close to the bank, by which time the
great majority of the shoal had cleared
the net. The fish were very much of a
size, being about fifteen inches long,
with red-tinted fins, and of about the
outlines of a four-pound barbel, but
with a more pointed head. I was told
that they were full of bones, and not
otherwise good eating.
12 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
I have never seen or heard of any-
thing like this very peculiar fishiDg
elsewhere, nor can I understand why
the fish did not escape between the men
ID the water, where there was nothing
to stop them.
The leaping was a pretty and curious
sight, the fish taking their fence like a
set of trained hunters.
A second night's journey in the mun-
chil brought me to Honore, the last
station on Madras territory ; and a third
run of forty miles to Belikeri Bay.
I found the house there to be a
spacious barn-like building on a laterite
cliff about seventy feet above the sea,
and standing in extensive grounds on a
promontory which formed the southern
shore of a bay worthy to challenge com-
INTRODUCTORY. 13
parison with the Bay of Naples. To
the east, the north, and the north-west
the hills rose like a camp round the
broad blue circle. Towards the south-
west shore there was an opening sea-
ward of a mile and a half wide, exposing
a portion of the bay to storms from that
quarter.
A perfect and far-famed haven of
refuge in such cases was however pro-
vided a little farther north, where an-
other spur of the same range enfolded
a lovely cove, called Beitcole, completely
lapping it round from all the winds of
heaven, and endearing its name to every
mariner of western India.*
* A breakwater has since been added to these
natural advantages, and the Port of Karwar
created.
14 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
My house though spacious was abso-
lutely empty, and within reach of its
beautiful surroundings were to be found
none of the ministers of civilization
common at all Indian stations. Prac-
tically I was as remote as Robinson
Crusoe himself from the doctor, the
butcher, the baker, etc.
I sent therefore to Goa (about seventy
miles north) for a family of carpenters
and a flock of turkeys, and imported
a flock of sheep from Mysore. Ancola,
our nearest bazaar, furnished a sack of
wheat and a hand-mill ; the cook became
the butcher, the tent lascars I taught
to make bread, extemporising an oven.
When the carpenters arrived they rapidly
put together some furniture from the
pretty yellow wood of the jack-tree, and
INTRODUCTORY. 15
thus the means of civilized life gradually
grew and multiplied around us.
As the Sawuntwari insurrection was at
that time disturbing our northern frontier
near the Soopah tableland, which was a
portion of my charge, it is necessary to
explain what occurred and the precau-
tions taken to protect our passes.
I was about to make the revenue
settlement of Soopah for the year then
commencing, and marched with my tents
arid official establishment to the upper
country for that purpose, camping at
Yellapore, a small town surrounded by
forest, where were the head-quarters of
the Tahsildar of Soopah. Arrived at
this place, I set myself at once to under-
stand our position and devise means of
resistance if occasion should arise.
CHAPTER II.
THE SAWUNTWARI INSURRECTION.
SAWUNTWAEI is a forest tract at the
southern extremity of what is called
the Southern Mahratta country, abut-
ting on the Portuguese territory and
on the province of Belgaum. It lies
between the tableland and the sea, and
is not far from the ghauts or wild
passes which lead up from the lowlands
to Soopah. Five such passes give
access to the Soopah talook from Goa,
and as many more ascend to Belgaum
from thence, and from Sawuntwari ;
16
THE SAWUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 17
and as all these hill roads cross the
British frontier from foreign territory,
there was in those days a little custom-
house at the head of each pass for the
levy of import dues.
What first brought Phond Sawunt
and his clan into collision with our
authorities I cannot say; but when I
assumed charge of Soopah and Ancola
the Sawunts had plundered and burnt
the Belgaum custom-houses and com-
mitted sundry other acts of violence.
Troops were sent out against them
from Belgaum, but as so often happens,
when regular troops are sent into the
jungles to attack undisciplined enemies
on their own ground, the latter had
much the best of it, and our regiments
lost men and officers without being
c
1 8 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
able to close with their enemy. News
of these encounters began to reach
me soon after my arrival from the
reports of frontier officials, both on
our own and the Belgaum border, but
I was not in communication with any
higher authority possessing such in-
formation as would enable me to test
the accuracy of these unpleasant tid-
ings.
It was mortifying enough to hear
them from native sources, and to find
that my own establishment regarded
my proposed progress through Soopah
for the purposes of settlement as
uncomfortably hazardous. Necessarily,
both the country and the people were
entirely new to me; but I had an ex-
cellent map, and I found myself well
THE SA WUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 19
seconded by the district officials when
once I had formed my plan for defend-
ing our passes, and got leave from my
chief at Mangalore to carry it out.
I enlisted one hundred and fifty
matchlock men in the forest villages
lying along the crest of the Northern
Ghauts, — men who were the descend-
ants of feudal retainers of the Mahratta
chiefs of old days, — keen shikaries,
familiar with forest life, and priding
themselves on the semi-military charac-
ter of their associations. They were
called sheiksendies, and a portion of
them were employed as village con-
stables under the potails, or heads of
villages, whose forefathers during Mah-
ratta rule had themselves been Des-
saies, or petty chiefs. Probably Phond
20 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
Sawunt's levy consisted chiefly of a
similar class of men ; so that if our
passes were invaded, Greek would meet
Greek. Among the little custom-houses
I distributed thirty peons armed with
musket and bayonet and sword, and
well provided with ammunition. These
men were to be in constant commu-
nication with the sheiksendies, whose
duty it was to patrol the border near
the head of each pass and to keep up
the communication. They were also
instructed to rendezvous promptly under
their Dessaies at any point which might
be threatened.
When I put my thirty peons through
their facings with musket and bayonet,
a controversy arose among them as to
the proper use of the bayonet, the pre-
THE SAWUNTIVARI INSURRECTION. 21
vailing opinion being that its manifest
intention was to put out the eyes of the
enemy, and that it ought to be directed
accordingly. To settle this important
matter, I pointed out as gravely as I
could that all parts of an enemy's
person were equally suitable for the
application of the bayonet point ! With
the use of firearms both peons and
sheiksendies were perfectly conversant.
Before starting on their beat, my
hundred and fifty sheiksendies were
paraded for inspection, wiry and
strongly-built little men, each carrying
a matchlock taller than himself, with
powder-horn and pouch, and either a
sword or wood knife. They wore a
dress peculiar to that region, and which
I have not seen elsewhere : a thick white
22 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
cotton tunic reaching nearly to the
knee, and very tight-fitting breeches of
the same material, laced at the back
of the calf. On the whole I was agree-
ably surprised at the appearance they
presented drawn up in line, and I
harangued them in Hindostani on their
duties. Many of our Mahratta ryots
in Soopah bore the name of Sawunt;
and as I was rather apprehensive of
sympathy being felt in Soopah for the
cause of Phond Sawunt, I thought it
necessary to impress on the Dessaies
and their men that collusion or sym-
pathy with rebels was as heinous a
crime as rebellion itself. When my
harangue was ended, old Motuppa
Dessaie came forward and propounded
a very pertinent question on a point I
THE SA WUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 23
had omitted to notice. " Sahib," he
said, " do you authorize us to shoot
down these men if we see them in our
jungles ? "
My point of view having all along
been that of resistance to attack, the
question was new to my mind. I could
not tell my men to shoot strangers at
sight like 'deer, so I instructed them to
call upon all comers from the hostile
quarter to surrender, and to use their
weapons only in case of resistance or
attack.
These arrangements made, or rather
while they were in progress, I ordered
my people to prepare to carry out our
tour of settlement exactly as had been
proposed, and met with no further
remonstrance from them. We had
24 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
marched from Belikeri by way of the
Arbyle Ghaut, and encamped at Yella-
pore, the chief town of Soopah. Here
was located the office of the Tahsildar of
Soopah, a grand old veteran who in
early life had seen the Duke of Welling-
ton when he passed through Hullial
(an ancient town on the confines of
Soopah), and who was conversant with
the history of the Mysore and Mahratta
campaigns. This old Brahmin was on
the verge of life, but full of fire and
energy, and, if need should arise, full
of fight. I found him early one morn-
ing outside his cutcheri, carefully
swathed against the cold, raw fogs
of the season, but scrutinizing keenly,
one by one, all the muskets of his
armoury ; a peon was proving before
THE SA WUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 25
him the locks and flints of every weapon
again and again. The old man's finely-
cut face was of an extraordinary corpse-
like pallor, but when he was animated
his eyes blazed with a brilliancy strange
to see, and I think he was quite dis-
appointed that he was not called upon
to stand a siege in his cutcheri. His
known courage and energy, and his
intimate knowledge of the people and
country were of great service to me.
He did not long survive that season,
and I grieve that I cannot recall his
name. Meanwhile the Sawuntwari dis-
turbances continued, though they did
not extend into Soopah. Troops were
moved up toward the border. A regi-
ment under General Lovell was posted
at Sirci, about twenty miles from Yella-
26 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
pore. A detachment of four companies
encamped at Hullial, a town on our
western border, and Colonel Wallace
on the Belgaum side was in command
or a considerable force, including artil-
lery.
Among the casualties which occurred
in the early operations against Phond
Sawunt, I remember particularly the
death of Captain Tainton, a man who
was reported to be the best shot and
the best racquet player in southern
India, and who was unrivalled in the
skill with which he could use almost
any kind of weapon. He once made a
singular wager (which he won), to the
effect that he would, with a pellet bow
and a supply of the hard clay pellets
used with it, prevent an antagonist
THE SAWUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 27
placed face to face with him from load-
ing and discharging a pistol. With an
unceasing shower of pellets he pro-
ceeded to knock about the pistol, the
powder flask, and the knuckles of his
antagonist, till the latter had to give
up attempting to load and confess him-
self beaten.
While leading his men through the
jungles of Sawuntwari, Captain Tain-
ton received his mortal wound from a
matchlock ball. He carried a double-
barrelled gun on his shoulder, and turn-
ing as the shot struck him, caught sight
of the smoke of the matchlock in the
bush, and shot the man dead just before
he dropped himself.
The end of the rebellion did not come
till two or three months later; but
28 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
Colonel Wallace pressed the Sawunts
hard, and at last Phond Sawunt and
his seven sons and a body of their
retainers threw themselves into two
forts so difficult of access that they
were reported by the natives to be
impregnable. One of the forts was
called Munoghur, or "the forb of the
heart," the other Munosuntosh, "the
delight of the mind."
But Colonel Wallace at last destroyed
the reputation of these maiden forts.
He discovered that there was a secret
way of approach from the foot of a
precipice called the elephant rock, and
having made his preparations, he one
night lowered guns and men down the
face of the precipice and marched upon
Munoghur and Munosuntosh. The
THE SAWUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 29
surprise was too much for the Sawunts,
and they fled, leaving the forts empty
and undefended. Phond Sawunt and
his sons were captured in the Goa
jungles not long afterwards, and im-
prisoned ; and so ended the Sawuntwari
rising.
The course of my official tour in
Soopah made me acquainted with every
part of it, and I found that almost the
entire area was occupied by a vast
forest, consisting in great part of
valuable teak timber. A well-grown
teak tree is a beautiful thing, the trunk
is straight and shapely, ascending from
forty to sixty feet without a branch;
above this imposing shaft the limbs of
the tree extend laterally in much the
same proportions as those of the Scotch
30 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
fir. The leaves of the teak tree are very
large and of rather a light shade of
green. This teak forest in some places
extended over the brow of the ghauts,
and stretched seawards, covering a
part of Ancola. I could ride in one
direction across my charge for forty
miles in shade, except where village
clearings intervened at distant intervals.
It will be clear to the reader that I
am describing an exceptional region,
and I will here mention some further
features of the Soopah tableland. One
of these was a profound ravine which
crossed it diagonally from east to
north-west, and completely cut it
asunder, rendering all ordinary traffic
impossible.
At the bottom of this ravine, and
THE SAWUNTWARI INSURRECTION, 31
nearly two thousand feet below the
average level of the country, ran the
Kala JSTuddee, or black river, which as
it left the limits of Soopah turned due
west and reached the sea at Sedashe-
ghur, not far from the boundary line
between Canarese and Portuguese terri-
tory. Notwithstanding the great depth
to which the river had furrowed the
surface of the country, the ravine had
not the nature or appearance of a
canon, the sides slopes, though very
steep, were practicable for an active
man, and were covered from top to
bottom with lofty teak trees.*
* During a subsequent visit to Soopah I sent
round my horses by the usual road, and followed
this tract through the ravine and over the river.
It proved rather an arduous walk, but a very
32 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
We used to send letters from Yella-
pore to the north-eastern part of
Soopah across this ravine when the
river was low, throwing bridges of rude
temporary planking from rock to rock ;
but this was not possible when the
river was full, and the usual road for
the greater part of the year turned the
head of the ravine by a detour which
made the distance between forty and
fifty miles instead of less than twenty.
The inhabitants of this singular tract
were in some parts Mahrattas and in
others of Canarese race, but there was
a third and less numerous section, of
interesting one, the steep pathway wound among
teak trees of great stature, with no underwood
beneath them; an absolute solitude where the
silence was unbroken.
THE SA WUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 33
pure African descent, called Sidhis.
These men were descendants of fugitive
slaves from the Portuguese settlement,
who had found a secure and congenial
home in the great Soopah forests, where
they formed hamlets and villages, ob-
tained and cultivated lands, and throve
and multiplied. In appearance the
Sidhis retained their ancestral type
absolutely unchanged, and were the
same ebony coloured, large limbed men
as are still to be found on the African
coast, with broad, good-humoured, grin-
ning faces. At one time they were
great smugglers, but when I knew
Canara they had become loyal subjects
and gave no trouble. The African race
seem to enjoy an immunity from
fevers in regions where other races
D
34 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
suffer severely; so that although the
climate of Soopah was occasionally very
feverish for Hindoos, the Sidhis never
found it unhealthy.
Katijah Beebee, a woman of this
race, who had the strength and courage
of a man, and for years wore male
attire and passed for a man, was the
heroine of various local tales. She
enlisted as a peon, and served for
some years at the talook cutcheri in
that capacity ; then she became a daring
and successful smuggler, and when she
was caught at last, she (like Dirk
Hatteraick) offered a resistance which
it took several strong men to over-
power.
This forest land possessed a splendid
breed of buffaloes, vastly superior to the
THE SAWUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 35
bare-skinned, ungainly creatures com-
mon in the plains of India. Shaggy-
haired, massive, and short jointed, with
short, thick, symmetrically carved horns,
the Soopah buffaloes possessed immense
strength, and could drag very heavy
loads.
A bull of this breed is a match for a
tiger. On one occasion a herd of buf-
faloes with their calves was menaced by
a tiger while grazing on the skirts of
the forest. The tiger tried by roaring
to stampede the herd, and the herds-
man, shouting and beating the ground
with his heavy quarter-staff, was en-
deavouring to drive him off. Presently
the tiger sprang at the man and
knocked him down, but as the brute
stood over him growling, the bull of the
36 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
herd charged home, rolled the tiger over
and put him to flight ; the only injury
the man sustained was a wound in the
leg from the horn of his friend the bull,
inflicted as it knocked over the tiger.
The bison, a much larger animal than
the buffalo, is extensively found in
North Canara, but I reserve a descrip-
tion of this noblest of its ferce for a
later chapter.
Soopah is the only region in which
I have met with the toucan, or great
hornbill, the lesser kinds of hornbill are
common in many parts of India. I was
walking one morning through the forest
in the north-eastern part of Soopah,
when a bird of unusual size passed over-
head among the tops of the lofty trees.
I sent a random bullet after him which
THE SAWUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 37
neither harmed nor alarmed him, as I
presently saw him perch among the
topmost boughs of a high tree some
distance in advance.
As I walked quietly towards the tree,
I saw the comical looking head with
its huge aquiline beak, regarding me
through a fork in the branch ; and I
account it one of the best shots I ever
made, when I sent a ball from a light,
smooth-bore Westley Richards through
the head just at its junction with the
handsome orange-coloured helmet which
surmounts it. Down came the toucan
with outspread wings, dead apparently;
but when my peon Manoel raised him by
the thick muscular neck, he fastened his
great claws on his hand, and made the
wood resound with a succession of roars
38 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
more like a bull than a bird. He lived
at least an hour, and roared all the way
home to the tents.
The head of the toucan, including the
helmet and beak, must be nearly fif-
teen inches long, the rest of the bird
being rather longer than this ; the legs
are short, and only fitted for climbing
about the branches, to which the large
strong talons are also adapted. The
plumage is black and white, the beak
and helmet alone being of a beautiful
shaded orange. A gland on the back,
above the tail, supplies the pigment for
this colouring, which is applied by the
bird itself, its leisure moments seeming
to be all passed in rubbing the beak and
helmet on this gland, a process which
involves the adoption of a most uncom-
fortable-looking position.
CHAPTER III.
SELIKERI.
BEFORE leaving the Balaghaut, or upper
country, I visited Hullial, where Cap-
tain Coode was in command of a
detachment of the 35th Regiment of
Native Infantry, watching the Soopah
forests. I then went on to Sirci, where
the rest of the Regiment was held in
reserve, and sending for my wife and
child from Mangalore, returned to
Belikeri.
Our house at Belikeri, situated as I
have already said on a promontory
between two bays of great natural
39
40 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
beauty, was built on a cliff of red
laterite. This curious rock is rather
soft and cheese-like when first quarried,
but hardens rapidly when exposed to
the air ; it is full of the same sort of
holes as are to be found in gruyere,
but it makes very good building
material, and the walls of our house
were built of slabs quarried on the
spot. The whole cliff was full of
fissures and caves on its sea face, and
the various shrubs and trees which
grew about the house and grounds
seemed to root themselves readily, not-
withstanding the unpromising hardness
of the surface.
Notable among the surrounding
shrubs was the nux vomica, which
yields the deadly strychnine; it is in
BELIKERI. 41
fact rather a tree than a shrub, as it
attains a height of from fifteen to
twenty feet. The leaves are of a very
dark green, hard, shining, and brittle,
and resemble those of the cinnamon in
having two longitudinal fibres which
divide the leaf into three parts. The
fruit is of the same dark green colour
as the leaves, and is just the size of
a tennis ball. When it is ripe the
rind breaks easily and discloses a bright
orange-coloured pulp in which are flat
brown seeds of the size of a shilling.
The pulp is eaten freely by birds, and
must therefore be harmless, the strych-
nine is contained in the seeds (which
the birds never touch) and in the rind
and leaves.
Near at hand were two or three wild
42 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
mangosteen trees ; the crimson rind of
the fruit and its pearly white contents
exactly resemble those of the culti-
vated mangosteen in appearance, but
are intensely sour. The same gamboge
resin distils from both trees, and fur-
nishes I think the gamboge of com-
merce.
Towards the end of the promontory
the sea at high water and in storms
dashed against the cliff, and here was
a large cave in which a troop of sea
otters generally harboured. The floor
of the cliff was under water, but as
it was piled with laterite boulders for
many feet above sea level, the otters
were provided with absolutely impreg-
nable fastnesses under the boulders and
in the labyrinth of interstices which
BELIKERL 43
they formed. I often watched them
in the sea from the cliff above their
cave, and used to try my rifle upon
them ; but as they invariably dived to
the flash of the gun, I never got one,
and I cannot tell whether the sea otter
differs from the kind which frequents
the streams inland. I got a fine speci-
men of the latter kind one morning
on the Mysore border, while strolling
along a glade between the bamboo
jungle and a pretty stream, and looking
for peafowl. A whole family of otters
rushed headlong down from the jungle
to the stream. I rolled over the last
of the party, and found I had killed a
fine dog otter nearly three feet long.
The skin is russet brown, with close-
set, glossy fur.
44 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
One morning as I was swimming
out to a rock in the bay south of the
house, a large otter raised himself in
the water a few paces in advance of
me. With his head and shoulders
above the surface, he looked like a
mermaid, and testified his astonishment
and displeasure by spitting like a cat
and uttering a little shrill bark like a
puppy. In order to frighten him
thoroughly and prevent .his diving at
my feet, I made at him splashing and
shouting; on this he disappeared, and
as I climbed my rock for a header, I
saw him land and scamper up among
the rocks. Probably he was in doubt
as to what manner of animal was ap-
proaching him, and abandoned hostile
ideas when he saw it was a man.
3ELIKERL
45
In smaller caves and fissures in our
cliff dwelt sundry porcupines, shy, noc-
turnal creatures whom I did not care
to molest, as we had nothing in the
garden to tempt them to mischief. I
often found their quills, but only on
one occasion fell in with the animal
accidentally. This was when I was
starting for a ride very early in the
morning, at a season when the grass
was long. A poligar dog that was with
me started off in pursuit of what I took
to be one of our turkey cocks. Biding
up to whip off the dog, I found he
was chasing a large porcupine whose
quills were all on end and bristling in
self-defence. As the dog could not
close with it, I rode the porcupine hither
and thither till it took refuge in a
46 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
bush, when I sent for a gun and shot
it. The porcupine makes havoc of
melons, pine-apples, and all gourds ; but
he cannot cross a deep ditch with steep
sides, and is thus easily excluded. One
of the simplest ways of trapping him
is to dig a shelving trench with steep
sides narrowing gradually to a width
in which the porcupine cannot turn;
draw back he cannot, because the set
of his quills prevents backing, so that
if such a trench is baited with pieces
of pine-apple towards the narrow end,
the porcupine who follows it is hope-
lessly involved. On certain occasions
porcupines fight desperately, tearing
each other frightfully with their long
incisor teeth.
On the northern side of the pro-
BELIKERI. 47
montory a small river runs into the
bay, and the fishing village of Belikeri
is close to its embouchure. The fisher-
men and their head man, Byroo, were
great allies of mine, and brought me
any curiosities of the deep they came
across. One day it was a small alli-
gator, which had either been born minus
a fore leg or had lost it in infancy.
This creature was caught in the nets,
and the men had as they thought killed
it, but as it completely revived I put
a bullet through the throat and killed
it. As the alligator received its mortal
wound, I was astonished to see it eject
from its stomach three good - sized
stones ; the fishermen assured me that
for some reason or other alligators
are in the habit of swallowing stones.
48 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
This power of ejecting what it has
swallowed was curiously exemplified a
little while later. A pretty little
Blenheim spaniel belonging to a visitor
was one morning seized and carried
off at a spot where the shallow water
from a small stream rolled over the
sands into the sea.
My friend and I hurried down gun
in hand to avenge poor little Nap, the
alligator had of course disappeared, and
we walked up the course of the stream
as it wound among the fields, each of
us taking a separate bank. Presently
I saw the alligator sailing down the
stream towards me, with his head held
a little above water ; I instantly gave
him both barrels at the junction of the
head and throat. The brute threw his
BELIKERI. 49
whole length clean out of the water
and then disappeared. We searched
the bottom all over for his carcass
without success, but found the body of
the little dog. This was quite four
hundred yards from the spot where he
had been seized, and it was clear that
the alligator on being hit had ejected
the dog. There was neither tooth
mark nor wound of any kind visible
on the body.
I used often to see alligators asleep on
the sandy beach with their mouths wide
open, and found that, as in the case of
the shark, the act of opening the jaws
draws a tough white membrane across
the gullet, effectually closing it and
preventing the water from rushing in
so long as the jaws remain open.
E
So WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
In the month of October, when the
south-west monsoon has spent its force
and before the wind from the north-
east begins to blow, there are a few
weeks of profound calm on the waters
of the western coast. At this season
large fish of various kinds rise to the
surface and lie there basking in the
sun ; our bay used to be covered with
canoes every day and all day during
this period, and the fishermen were busy
killing the fish with the harpoon.
I once joined them and tried my hand
at the harpoon, but without much suc-
cess. The fish lay a little below the
surface, and practice was required in
order to throw with accuracy. The
arrangement of the harpoon is very
ingenious : the head fits loosely to the
BEL1KERI. 51
shaft, and disengages itself when a fish
is struck; a separate rope connects it
with the boat, and as merely a few
feet of cord attaches the shaft to the
disengaged head, it serves as a float to
indicate the course of the wounded fish.
One afternoon in November, Byroo
and some thirty or forty fishermen
with him came up to the house drag-
ging a great saw-fish, which measured
about twenty- one feet from the end of
the saw to the tail, and was quite two
feet thick at the head, from which
point it tapered down to the tail. The
breadth across the belly under the
shoulders was between two and three
feet. I found on examining the fish
that the saw or double rake was set
in the same plane as the belly, which
52 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
was perfectly flat ; and the mouth, which
was a mere slit of about eight inches
wide, was not far behind the root of
the saw. The fish could not possibly
open such a mouth to any width, but
moving flat along the bottom, and
swaying the rake from side to side as
it advanced, it would detach weed and
shell-fish and sea-slugs from the bed
of the sea, and these might be sucked
into the mouth as it passed over them.
I am not, I regret to say, a scientific
naturalist, and I offer this theory of
the saw-fish and his manner of gaining
his living for what it may be worth.
On that occasion I stupidly missed
a golden opportunity for verifying my
theory.* I had satisfied my curiosity,
* By neglecting to open the fish.
BELIKERL 53
and was about to dismiss Byroo with a
present, when he asked for further
orders. " It once happened, sahib, that
a very large fish was taken, and in its
belly was found a box of treasure ; ever
since then there has been a Circar
order that no large fish shall be cut
up without the sanction of a Govern-
ment officer."
The capture of this monster had taxed
the utmost energies of three or four
boats' crews and occupied them fully
four hours. I preserved the rake (or
saw as it is inappropriately called) of
this fish for many years ; it was about
three feet long. I have lost it, but have
hanging up in my hall a still larger
specimen of the same weapon. It
merits this name (though its primary use
54 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
must be what I have suggested) because
a side blow with the row of sharp, horny
teeth would inflict a fearful wound on
an assailant.
I had often picked up on the beach
after a storm the shells of the pearl
oyster: beautiful mother-of-pearl, not
of the thick, massive kind found in
the Persian gulf, but identical I believe
with the pearl oysters of Ceylon.
Wishing to examine the bed from
which these shells came, I one day took
Byroo and four or five skilful divers in
my sailing boat to the head of the bay,
to test the contents of the shells. We
collected about five hundred shells, which
were at once opened and searched ; but
beyond a number of tiny seed-pearls and
one irregularly shaped pearl, about as
BELIKERL 55
large as a sweet pea, I found nothing
of value. My specimens were duly for-
warded to Madras, but the Government
were not disposed to open a fishery.
One day when I was out in camp
holding office in a tent, a large iguana,
whose hole may have been accidentally
enclosed by the tent walls, suddenly
found itself, to its great alarm, in the
midst of the conclave of writers in white
calico, bundles of papers, rugs, and ink-
stands. The lizard was between two and
three feet long, and as it rushed blindly
round and round, seeking a way of es-
cape, it created quite as much horror and
confusion among my Brahmin scribes as
it felt, careering over them and their
carpets till it at last found an exit.
When tranquillity was restored, one
56 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
of my moonshis, Jose Prebhoo, a Con-
cani of one of the numerous families
descended from Xavier's converts,
gravely informed me that in the old
days iguanas were used in gaming ac-
cess to besieged places ; for, said he, " A
large iguana, sahib, is so strong that if
three or four men laid hold of its tail he
could drag them up a wall or a tree " !
This Jose Prebhoo was full of stories,
and constituted himself raconteur general
of the establishment, never losing an op-
portunity to edge in a story if possible.
News came one day that the post
runner had been delayed some hours
between Belikeri and Sedasheghur by
a tigress which lay down across the
path at a spot where it crossed a spur
of the hills. The runner tried all he
BELIKERL 57
knew to frighten the tigress away,
shouting, banging his bell stick on the
ground, and abusing her vilely; the brute
merely roared back at him, and would
not move till he collected a sufficient
number of allies to overawe her. This
news immediately inspired our raconteur
to cite a parallel incident.
" Once upon a time, sahib, there was
a postal runner who was a very brave
and strong man. A bear met him be-
tween Yellapore and Hullial, and tried
to seize him; but the runner slipped
behind a tree so cleverly that the bear
seized the tree. Upon this the runner
laid hold of the bear's fore legs, set his
own feet against the tree, and being very
strong he ground the bear against it;
and the more he pulled, the tighter the
58 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
bear hugged the tree, until at last the
bear was killed, and the runner got
the Government reward."
During one rainy season, when the
weather at Belikeri had been unusually
stormy, I happened to enter, in search
of something, the bath-room attached to
a room not then in use. It was getting
dark, and I had a candle with me ; just
as I was leaving the bath-room, a pile
of stones in one corner of the bathing
place caught my eye, and I turned to
look at it. As I held the candle to-
wards it, the seeming pile of stones
resolved itself into the spotted coils of
a python, which lay there, coil over coil,
with its head resting on the topmost
coil, and the bright eyes watching my
movements.
BE LIKE RI. 59
Evidently the snake had entered
through a hole of four or five inches
square by which the water escaped, and
he might at any moment retreat by the
same way ; so I shouted for a gun and a
big stick, and presently Kistnama, one of
my Lascars, rushed in with a gun and
two stout staves. One barrel was
loaded, and I instantly fired at the head ;
but either the snake moved or the light
deceived me, and he reared himself up
at us higher than our heads. Then we
belaboured him with all our strength,
and in a second or two beat him down,
so that he fell across the low wall which
enclosed the bathing-place ; in that posi-
tion our blows broke the snake's spine,
so that he could not raise himself again,
and we soon finished him. Dragged out-
60 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
side and measured, this snake proved to
be about eleven feet long, and twelve
inches in girth round the belly at the
thickest part.
Probably our poultry yard was the
attraction which led the python to take
up his quarters with us, and the quiet
and shelter of the bath-room afforded a
convenient refuge from the rain.
I witnessed another combat one
morning on the beach, between antago-
nists of very different calibre. A large
black sand wasp was busy excavating a
gallery in the compact moist sand just
above high-water mark, kicking out
with his long hind legs the pellets of
sand he dug out. Presently a silvery
little crab, no bigger than a threepenny
bit, darted out of an adjoining hole and
BELIKERI. 61
made at the wasp with great fury, try-
ing to seize it with his great fighting
claw. The wasp troubled himself very
little; he simply rose an inch or two
from the sand and swooped at the crab
from behind, avoiding the brandished
claw, and obliging the crab to pirouette
round and round in an absurd and
fatiguing manner, so that he was soon
obliged to retreat to his hole for a rest.
But he was out again in an instant, and
renewed the battle as eagerly but with
no better success than before. I do not
think he appeared for a third round, and
I regretted not being able to advise him
to countermine the wasp and engage
him underground when he resumed his
excavation, which he presently did with
great sang froid.
62 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
I have never seen mention of what
I one day observed, to wit, that the
blue-bottle fly eats ant's eggs. A long
train of tiny ants, each carrying a white
egg, was crossing the veranda ; a blue-
bottle fly alighted close by, and from
time to time rose and hovered close
above the caravan; the wind from his
wings blew the ants about, and some of
them dropped their loads, these were
instantly raised one by one by the fly at
the end of his proboscis, sucked, and
then dropped; and whenever a fresh
supply was wanted, the fly rose on his
wings and winnowed the line of ants.
No attempt was made by any of them to
turn upon the fly or molest it.
CHAPTER IV.
HONAMA AND HIS MEN.
ABOUT two miles from Belikeri Bay was
a village inhabited by Canarese ryots,
who cultivated rice in the low-lying
fields round their houses, and dry grain
crops of various kinds in forest clear-
ings, and who largely supplemented
their food supply by netting and spear-
ing hog, deer, and elk in the jungles.
Unlike Byroo and his fishermen, who
were Roman Catholics, descendants of
Xavier's converts, Honama and his
brethren were Hindoos, and of a dif-
64 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
ferent race from the fishing population
on the coast.
The system of forest cultivation was
rude but very successful. A hill side
was chosen covered with the less valu-
able and smaller kinds of trees, 'these
were felled and burnt during the hot
dry months of March, April, and May ;
then the ashes were roughly levelled
and sown with millet or pulse, and the
space was protected by a strong, rude
fence. During the rains a luxuriant
crop sprung up, and an almost equally
good one could be raised in the second
year. Then the plot was abandoned,
and left untouched for ten or twelve
years, by the end of which period the
copious rainfall and the tropical sun
had reclothed it with a forest growth of
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 65
sufficient dimensions for a repetition of
the felling and burning. This kind of
cultivation was called " coomeri," and
though seemingly wasteful, suited the
conditions under which a sparse popu-
lation contended with the ever en-
croaching forest.
Such a life necessarily familiarized
the Canarese ryot with every glade and
hill and valley within many miles of his
home, and acquainted him with the
habits of the wild creatures which
harboured there, making him by habit,
as well as taste, a practised shikari.
Honama and his men always accom-
panied me on my beats for bison, elk,
or deer, and I sometimes joined them
when they took out their nets to hunt
on their own account. On these occa-
66 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
sions they speared any creature that
came into the net, leopards, hyenas, and
even tigers, as well as deer or hog, but
they never attempted to deal with
bison in this way. When I was with
them, my friends made it a point of
etiquette that I should give the coup de
grace to any animal of mark, and I once
had to come from my post beyond the
net, and put an end to a leopard which
was pinned helpless to the ground, on
its back, by two spears through the
loose skin of the neck.
The nets were made of the tough
rope twisted by the hunters themselves,
from the fibre of the pandanus, or wild
pine- apple, which abounds all over
southern India. When these nets were
reared for game, a long lane of about
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 67
twelve feet wide was cleared, inter-
secting the runs followed by wild ani-
mals in passing from any given stretch
of outlying jungle to the deeper forest.
The bottom of the net was firmly
pegged down along its whole length ;
the upper side was then raised by props
(like the clothes lines in a drying
ground) to a height of about ten feet,
the main support being given to the net
by props on the side from which
animals would approach it when roused
by the beaters; by every one of these
latter props crouched a spearman
under an extemporised screen of brush-
wood, and with his goat's-hair blanket
folded on his shoulders. The instant
that an animal rushed against the net,
the spearmen knocked away the props
68 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
next to them, and the net yielding to
the pressure of the props on the further
side, fell inwards upon the struggling
beast, which was at once speared.
On one occasion we took out the nets
with the intention of netting a tiger
that had killed several cows in the
neighbourhood ; but though we spent
the whole day till four in the afternoon,
in beating all the most likely coverts,
we saw nothing of the tiger, and only
brought home a spotted deer. I left
Honama and the rest on their way
home, and rode back to Belikeri. I had
scarcely bathed and eaten, when a
breathless shikari rushed up to the
house to say the tiger was found in
a patch of scrub jungle close to
Honama's village, where he had killed
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 69
and partly eaten one of their cows while
we were beating for him at a distance.
I rode off directly, but before I
reached the spot met a triumphant
procession carrying the dead tiger. I
then learned that the nets had been at
once pitched and a beat commenced,
but that the tiger had shown himself
in so savage a mood that both the
beaters and the spearmen, whose post
was inside the net, had been cowed, and
that the latter had left their usual posts
and got behind the net. The tiger,
however, of his own accord made at the
net, and rearing himself up, placed his
two fore paws against it ; there was no
one to knock away the inner props at
this critical moment, the tiger was
roaring angrily, and struggling to force
70 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
back the net, which, might at any
moment fall in the wrong direction.
Then old Honama pulled himself
together, and taking his spear in both
hands, struck it into the tiger's open
mouth, with the result of making him
topple backwards, dragging the net
down upon him. The spearmen were
upon him in an instant, pinning him
down and gashing him mercilessly, a
peon of mine who lived in that same
village, fired an old musket into him,
and all was over. This was an enor-
mous tiger, and the size and weight of
his fore arm and paw were terrible to
see.
The town and fort of Ancola were
about three miles south of Belikeri. An
open bay, with a broad, level shore of
HO NAM A AND HIS MEN. 71
firm sand, extended from our promon-
tory to the rocky headland which closed
its southern end, and the approach to
the town was by this sandy beach.
The fort was a massive rectangular
enclosure, a relic of the old days of
Mahratta supremacy, standing between
the hills and the town in a position
either to protect or overawe its inhabit-
ants. Nothing remained of the build-
ings inside the enclosure but roofless and
ruinous walls, and a few vaults under
ground. Ancola itself was a little
old-world looking town, embowered
in groves of mango, jack, and cocoa-nut
trees ; the bazaar in its main street was
screened from the sun by scaffolding and
canopy, as at Cairo, and on the tiled
roofs of its ancient houses the grass
72 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
grew tall and thick enough for the
mower. No great thoroughfare passed
through the quiet streets, and an air of
sleepy cheerfulness pervaded the whole
place.
Some years before I reached Canara,
the town of Ancola had passed through
a brief reign of terror and grief. A
man-eater had taken up its abode in the
neighbourhood, and for some time, at
intervals of a few days, one victim after
another, generally a woman or a child,
was carried off. Sometimes a sleeping
person, in a position of fancied security,
was seized and dragged away, and for
a time all attempts to intercept and
kill the murderer were baffled by its
cunning and boldness. The little com-
munity was beside itself with grief and
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 73
horror. At last it was discovered that
the man-eater had its lair not in the
forest, but in a vault of the ruined fort,
and the whole male population armed,
and mobbed it in its den, killing not a
tiger, as was supposed, but a leopard.1
News was one day brought to me
that a leopard had again been seen near
Ancola, and had killed cattle ; and as
there was a natural anxiety to be rid
of it, I lost no time in summoning
Honama and his men to join me, with
their nets, and exterminate the enemy.
A long wooded spur of the hills ends
at Ancola, and gives access by the
Arbyle Ghaut to the tableland of Soo-
pah. The leopard was tracked into
the heavy jungle at the end of this
1 " A leopard shall watch over their cities."
74 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
spur, a mile or two from Ancola, and
the nets were pitched so as to intercept
the brute on his way upward. I took
post on the right flank of the net, and
a little in advance of it, and ensconced
myself and my little henchman, Manoel,
who always carried my second gun,
among the leafy boughs of a small
sapling.
The beaters had the greatest diffi-
culty in forcing this leopard from his
haunts. We heard him roar repeatedly
in one part of the jungle or another ;
twice the spearmen saw him come close
to the nets and then double back, and
had not the numerous posse of beaters,
aided by the din and discord of many
drums, horns, and cymbals, stuck
bravely to their work for at least two
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 75
hours, the leopard would have made his
way back. He was driven a third time
towards the nets, near my post, and was
again doubling back when I caught
sight of an orange-coloured mass glid-
ing through the underwood. Just in
front of him was a little open space
which he must cross, and there I
dropped him dead with a bullet aimed
high up behind the shoulder, just below
the spine.
A considerable experience in shoot-
ing large game has convinced me that
this is par excellence the vital point,
and that a wound here is more instan-
taneously fatal than one low down
behind the shoulder. Three times elk,
which I have wounded low down behind
the shoulder, have run from fifty to a
76 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
hundred yards before dropping. This
leopard neither stirred nor spoke after
he was hit, except that as the body was
being carried down the hill, half an hour
later, slung under a pole, the jaws
distended convulsively, and a deep
sound, half gurgle, half growl, issued
from the chest. The startled carriers
nearly dropped their load, but were
soon reassured that the creature was
really dead.
I had found it difficult to prevent
the spearmen from spoiling the skin
by plunging their spears into the dead
leopard, and to show them there was
no life left in him, I laid hold of the tail
and shook it. " 0 sahib ! don't do
that ! " they cried; " if you shake their
tails they always revive ! "
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 77
As I walked down the ghaut that
morning, towards Ancola, I noticed
something stirring in a puddle left
by the rain of the previous day,
and, stopping to look, found a tiny
fish, about an inch long, and shaped
like a roach or carp. Neither pond
nor stream was near; the puddle was
rain-water, and the fish was well and
lively ; how came it there ? I can only
conclude that it came down — as fish
have been known to do — in the shower,
and that if others fell at the same time
on the path, birds or beasts must have
carried them off.
Another leopard was killed during
the rains, near Sedasheghur, seventeen
miles north of Belikeri, in a very gallant
manner by a fine young fellow of the
78 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
same race as my friends the spearmen.
Wild animals find the deeper forests
unpleasant quarters in the monsoon
rains ; cloudy skies, frequent showers,
the perpetual drip from the trees, and
above all the persecution of the tiny
jungle leeches, drive them to the more
open glades, where they have the benefit
of occasional sunshine ; and at such
seasons they are at no great distance
from human habitations. Thus it
happened that the leopard in question
was found at daylight in the middle
of a small hamlet, trying to conceal
itself under the low, projecting eaves of
one of the huts.
There were no fire-arms at hand, so
the young fellow who discovered the
leopard, folding his goat's-hair blanket
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 79
over his left arm, and armed with his
sharp sickle-shaped wood-knife, made
at the brute, and receiving its spring on
his left arm and shoulder, gashed it so
terribly about the vitals that he killed
it without sustaining any very serious
injuries to himself. His shoulder was
a little torn by the leopard's claws, and
he was slightly bitten on the arm where
the leopard had got its teeth through
the folds of the blanket ; but that was
all.
The skin was brought in to me for
the usual reward, and I saw that the
leopard was of no great size, but still
a very formidable antagonist. Its con-
queror was a remarkably handsome
young man, and looked like a bronze
cast of the Apollo.
8o WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
Not far from the scene of this exploit
I once beat the neighbouring woods for
three successive days for a tiger which
was reported to have killed a man. Two
companions from Sedasheghur were
with me, and all the local shikaries ; but
unfortunately we had no nets, and my
friend Honama, and his spearmen,
though invaluable allies in their own
jungles, where every glade was familiar
ground, always confined themselves to
their own neighbourhood.
The result was that the tiger, though
several times seen by the beaters, never
gave us a shot, out-mancouvring us
cleverly on every occasion. On the
third day, as we walked along a path
between two woods, to take up a fresh
position, one of my companions being
HO NAM A AND HIS MEN. 81
about fifty yards in advance, and the
other as far behind me, I heard the
latter call to me ; but as he did not sig-
nal by whistling, to signify that anything
was in sight, I did not stop on the in-
stant. Presently he came up breath-
less, " 0 Mr. Forbes, the tiger has just
crossed the path not three paces behind
you." He had given his gun to a fol-
lower to carry, but I had mine on my
shoulder, and had I turned when he
spoke, I might have been tempted to
fire, which is a very dangerous proceed-
ing when face to face with a tiger.
Even with this evidence of the tiger's
whereabouts, we did not succeed in get-
ting a shot at him; but as he was not again
seen or heard of after that day, he pro-
bably left the neighbourhood in disgust.
82 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
It has been thought that the safest
position in tiger-shooting is in a tree;
but a fatal incident in the Hyderabad
country has shown that unless the
sportsman is at a considerable height
from the ground he is liable to be
seized.
Four officers, with one of whom I was
well acquainted, went out to beat for a
tigress in the neighbourhood of Hydera-
bad. They posted themselves in the
usual way at intervals on the outskirts
of the jungle ; one at least of the number
being on the branch of a tree with a
shikari beside him. During the beat
the tigress showed great irritation, and
knocked over one of the beaters. She
reached the edge of the jungle opposite
the tree in question, and instead of mov-
HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 83
ing stealthily out, she charged instantly
for the tree, and reaching the branch in
a single bound, tore down the shikari.
The officer at once fired and wounded
her; on which she again sprung into the
tree, pulled him down also, and began
worrying him. The poor fellow was re-
markably strong and athletic, and fought
desperately for his life. His three com-
panions hearing the outcry hurried up,
and putting shoulder to shoulder walked
up to the tigress and killed her on the
spot. But both their friend and the
shikari died from the injuries they had
sustained, while they were being carried
in to Hyderabad.
CHAPTER Y.
GOKERN AND TAANA. THE BISON.
GOKERN is the name of a very ancient
temple of great repute for sanctity
among the Hindoos of western India.
The temple and the little town which
has grown up round it are built on the
shore of a pretty sheltered cove lined
with cocoa-nut palms. Close behind the
temple rise two steep conical hills covered
with short turf; these hills are united
at their base, round which the houses
nestle closely. They are precisely equal
in height and of similar shape, and when
looked at from the sea, exactly embody
GOKERN AND YAANA. 85
the idea conveyed in the name Gokern,
which means cow's ears. Seen from
above, against the intense blue of the
sea, the miniature town, with its quaintly
fashioned red stone temple half hidden
by foliage, is a gem for a painter. Go-
kern was generally a very tranquil little
place, but at certain festivals numerous
pilgrims assembled there, some of whom
came from a distance. Those from the
north passed through Belikeri, and one
evening an unfortunate pilgrim was
brought to me in a litter, who had come
to cruel grief on his way. He was found
disabled in a forest clearing, and stated
that having wandered out of the way
between Sedasheghur and Belikeri, he
had met four bears in the jungle,
(probably two full-grown bears and their
86 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
cubs) ; three of the four ran away, but
the fourth attacked him and mangled
him terribly. When the bear left him,
he had managed to climb into a raised
stage in the clearing, used by watchers
at crop time, and there he was found.
When brought to me, the poor fellow
was delirious ; the bear had scalped him,
and injured the skull so as to expose the
brain, while the skin of the forehead and
nose were torn downward and overhung
the mouth, giving the face a strange ani-
mal appearance. In spite of these injuries
he did not seem to be in pain, but sat
up and talked wildly, fancying himself a
raja, and inviting me to sit beside him.
He was carried in at once to the small
military hospital at Sedasheghur, but
did not long survive.
GOKERN AND YAANA. 87
It is a strange thing that the bear
should always endeavour to tear the head
and face when it attacks a man ; the
native idea is that it seeks to get at the
brain and devour it, and I conclude that
this is really the case, as the head is in-
variably the object of attack.
I once introduced a tame, half-grown
bear to a large turtle ; without a mo-
ment's hesitation the bear planted all
four feet on the turtle and began to try
and tear off the upper shell in a business-
like way, which would no doubt have
been successful if we had not interfered.
As this bear had been with us from its
infancy, and had never seen a turtle,
its proceedings must have been the re-
sult of a very strong instinct indeed.
From Gokern the bands of pilgrims
88 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
generally made their way to tlie rocks
of Yaana, a strange, weird spot, remote
from human abodes, and just on the
eastern border of the Ancola forest,
where the trees give place to grassy,
open downs. A Hindoo sunygasi, or
hermit, lived in a cave under the over-
hanging rock, and received the offerings
of pilgrims.
On the upper part of the rock, and in
a position inaccessible both from above
and below, hung in numbers the combs
and nests of wild bees. In the old times
it is said that on certain occasions all
the women of Gokern and the surround-
ing country marched in procession round
these rocks. The bees watched the devo-
tees as they passed, and if there chanced
to be among them any woman whose
GOKERN AND YAANA. 89
conduct was not blameless, down came
the bees upon her in wrath and punished
her frailty.
It is not surprising that this custom
had died out long since; and whatever
may be the moral sensitiveness of bees,
it is quite certain that any procession
passing round the rock below their nests
would be sure to bring down these vin-
dictive little savages. Doctor Schwein-
furth's account of the attack on him
and his crew on his way up the Nile is
an instance of the danger of provoking
them ; and an officer of my acquaintance
who was engaged on a boundary survey
in central India, suffered most severely.
He and his surveyors unluckily roused
a swarm of wild bees on a rocky hill.
Away went the whole surveying party in
90 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
headlong stampede ; but my friend as he
ran had the misfortune to trip and fall,
and was instantly covered. A friendly
shepherd partly beat off the bees, and
covered the victim with his blanket ; but
for the next twenty-four hours Captain
D — 's servants were busy extracting the
multitude of stings left sticking in him.
I was assured by the Tahsildar of
Ancola that the rocks of Yaana had only
once, a long time ago, been visited by a
European, and he often begged me to
go and see the spot ; so I at last sent
out a small tent, and rode out.
After crossing the forest the path
for some miles led along its borders,
and as I rode from one green hill to
another, I began to catch glimpses at
intervals of clusters of sharp spires and
GOKERN AND YAANA. 91
dark pinnacles rising above the trees.
I seemed to be approaching some lofty
abbey in the wilderness, of vast and
irregular dimensions. At last I came
suddenly on a wide enceinte, bare alike
of tree and herb, black, and strewn with
ashes, as if some recent conflagration
had consumed the very ground as well
as what grew upon it. In the centre
of this charred and desolate space rose
the black rocks of Yaana, a pile of per-
haps two hundred feet high, and about
three times as much in circumference.
In shape the mass seemed like a vast
tussock with countless pointed tops,
solid indeed for half its height, but split
and shivered in its upper half. One
deep rift alone reached to the very base,
and sundered the rock into two parts.
92 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
Here, says the Hindoo legend, a rak-
shasa flying from a more powerful
demon than himself, broke through the
solid rock and was followed by his
pursuer. Beyond suchlike childish
myths, local tradition has no explan-
ation to offer of the marvel. Hindoo
history records no volcanic disturbance,
no natural convulsion of overwhelming
violence. As the shattered rocks and
the blackened earth are now, so they
have been from a time beyond the ken
of man ; a strange, portentous sight,
evidencing the action of forces of vol-
canic violence, though not displayed in
the usual manner.
When a tract of forest is felled and
burnt, a single monsoon covers the
ashes with vegetation, but at Yaana cen-
THE BISON. 93
turies have not won a blade of grass
from the dead ground. Nearly forty
years have passed since I stood and
wondered beneath those rocks, and I
think it is certain that since that time
they have been visited and described
by observers more competent than my-
self to divine the nature of the catas-
trophe which has left them to a deso-
lation like that of the Dead Sea.
In describing the manner in which
Honama and his fellows set up their
nets for wild animals, I mentioned that
these hardy hunters never attempted
to drive the bison towards them. These
grand-looking creatures would sweep
the nets before them by sheer momen-
tum.
Persons who have not made acquaint-
94 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
ance with the bison of south-western
India might not unreasonably suppose
the animal to be a variety of the wild
buffalo or auroch of America ; but there
is in fact no resemblance whatever be-
tween the two. The Indian bison is as
large again as the wild buffalo ; it has
a different number of ribs, and a head
differently set on; it has no mane, and
is beside distinguished by a peculiarity
to be found in no other member of the
bovine race. This consists of a bony
horizontal ridge or wither, which ex-
tends from the neck half-way along the
back, where it ends abruptly ; it adds
five or six inches at least to the height
of the animal's forehand, and gives it
immense strength and mass. When
the bison crashes through the thickets
THE BISON. 95
in his irresistible hand-gallop the horns
are thrown back, so as not to catch the
boughs, and the shock of contact falls
on the solid base of the horns, and on
the dorsal ridge aforesaid. This elon-
gated and exaggerated wither gives the
animal an outline unlike that of any
other creature ; nevertheless the bison is
a very noble-looking beast. The colour
is a dark bluish slate, shaded with red,
and the lower parts of the legs are of
a light tawny hue. The horns, start-
ing from very massive bases, describe
a wide and symmetrical curve. From
the time the animal is five years old
every season contributes a spiral ring
at the base of the horn, and as bisons
have been shot whose horns showed
nine and even ten of these rings, it
96 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
follows that they attain at least the
age of fifteen years.
The dorsal ridge in full-grown bulls
makes the measurement both of height
and girth reach rather startling figures.
I have myself assisted at the death of
a bull bison which, as he lay dead,
measured nineteen hands from the point
of the hoof to the top of the wither ;
his girth behind the shoulder and over
the wither was nine feet some inches.
This bull was shot at Grairsappa, on
the ridge overhanging the precipitous
ravine (a thousand feet deep) into which
the river plunges. My companion
who was on the ridge crippled the
bison by a bullet in the shoulder, and I
ascended the bare hill-side from a val-
ley below to cut off his retreat; when
THE BISON. 97
within twenty paces or so, I raised the
rifle for a shot, but the cap had fallen
off as I ran, and I should have fared
badly but for the bull's wounded
shoulder. He lowered his head to
charge down on me, but rolled over and
fell as often as he attempted to repeat
the charge. I am sorry to say that the
poor bull received a good many bullets
before he was killed, though we were
both most anxious to end his sufferings.
I was more fortunate with the first
bull I ever shot, and succeeded — by
aiming high up behind the shoulder,
and a few inches under the base of
the dorsal ridge — in dropping him with
a single ball from a smooth bore; he
measured seventeen hands two inches,
and his head and horns are still pre-
H
98 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
served in a friend's collection in Scot-
land.
Word was brought me one morning
that a small herd of bison were lying
down in an open glade in the Ancola
forest, not far from Belikeri. I started
for a stalk with the shikari who brought
the news, and Manoel, a little Ooncani
peon who always carried my second
gun. The herd had risen before we
reached the spot, leaving the impress
of their bulky forms on the long grass,
and we tracked them to a steep stony
hill, densely covered with a growth of
bastard bamboo cane.
As we ascended cautiously, it was
easy to follow in the bison's wake,
marked as it was by bent and trampled
cane, and we now and then picked up
THE BISON. 99
fragments of the tender green shoots
which had dropped from their mouths
as they browsed upwards ; but on either
side the trail it was impossible to see
a yard, so dense was the canebrake.
Still we followed, creeping on more and
more carefully. At last we stopped in
uncertainty: a strong atmosphere as
of a cow-house surrounded us, and we
became conscious that we were in the
midst of the herd. We listened and
peered round intently, but could
neither see anything nor hear a sound.
Then on a sudden there was a rush
like thunder, and we all crouched low,
expecting to be trampled down. The
thicket crashed and swayed, and the
stones clattered down as the avalanche
of bison swept by us and round us ;
TOO WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
but beyond a dim twinkling of tawny
legs among the canes, I could make
out no distinct form, and of course did
not attempt to fire. The wild herd
were aware of us, and instinctively
avoided us in their rush ; but they
could not have seen more of us than
we did of them.
I once killed a bull bison' near Nag-
wadi, on the Mysore border, and
learned why it is that the head of the
animal seems so nearly invulnerable.
It was in the sultry month of May, and
the grass had been burnt on the bare
hills outside the forests. A herd of
bison broke cover and crossed a bare
and blackened plain on their way to
the opposite jungle. A handsome bull,
just full grown, led the herd, and as
THE BISON. 101
they passed in front of my ambush,
about a hundred yards off, I fired a
shot at the bull from a single barrelled
rifle, aiming well in front of him, in
the hope of striking the shoulder. I
had aimed too far forward, the bullet
passed through the dewlap; but as
the wound bled sufficiently for an able
tracker to follow the trail, Manoel and
the shikari and I entered the jungle
in pursuit. After we had toiled for
some distance under a scorching sun,
the tracker stopped, and explaining
that the bull was bound for a par-
ticular moist and shady spot in the
deeper forest, he promised by making
a rapid detour to anticipate its arrival
there and bring me face to face with
it. Sure enough, we were first at the
102 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
spot, but Manoel and I had not been
ensconced five minutes in a leafy thicket
when we heard the bull approaching
leisurely. Immediately in front of us
was a beautiful green glade of about
seventy yards wide, and on the oppo-
site edge of this space the bull presently
emerged, he was exactly facing us, and
stopping as he reached the open, re-
mained for some minutes motionless.
At last I began to fear he would
suddenly turn and retreat; a side shot
he would not give, but I could see his
eye as his head turned slightly side-
ways, and setting the hair trigger of
the rifle, I aimed with extreme care in
the hopes of reaching the brain through
the eye. The bull seemed confused
by the shot, but presently galloped
THE BISON. 103
straight at our thicket. I glanced
round for a tree, but none was near
enough. Manoel thrust the Westley
Richards into my hand, and drawing
back a pace or two as the bull crashed
through the bushes, I fired both bar-
rels into him behind the shoulder. He
stopped almost at once, and staggered
to and fro in the vain effort to keep
his feet, and came heavily to the
ground, Manoel calmly walking up to
him as he tottered, and superintending
his last moments. We at once looked
to see where the rifle ball had struck,
and found it had entered just above
the right eye, and passing obliquely
through the solid bone of the fore-
head, had gone out at the base of
the opposite horn ; further examina-
104 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
tion showed that the horns were bed-
ded in a plate of cellular bone which
covers no portion of the brain any-
where above the eyes. This bull was
not more than five years old, and I
have no doubt that in an older animal
the cellular plate of bone would be-
come quite solid. This arrangement
renders it a matter of indifference to
the bison how much he is hit about
the upper part of the head, his most
vulnerable points are behind the shoul-
der and just behind the angle of the
jaw, where the throat begins.
It is due to one of the bravest and
ugliest little men that ever stepped,
that I should describe my henchman
Manoel. A short, square, wiry figure
supported a very large head ; the face
THE BISON. 105
was broad, the mouth wide, the eyes
goggle, and the ears were large and
projecting. But this unpromising taber-
nacle was the abode of a gallant spirit,
and I could count upon Manoel in any
moment of danger. I had often trouble
in restraining him from taking dan-
gerous liberties with wounded animals.
No doubt a life in or near great forests,
where wild animals abound, leads to a
certain familiarity with their nature
and habits which enables men so situated
to know exactly how far they may
count on the fear or indifference of wild
beasts ; but to lay hold of a wounded
bison by the horn is scarcely to be
justified on those grounds.
An example ,of a different kind will
show, however, that there was nothing
io6 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
of bravado about Manoel. We were
one day fording a rapid stream in the
jungles, nearly four feet deep, when
Manoel, who was behind me carrying
my gun, was suddenly taken off: his
legs and disappeared completely under
water for a second or two, all except
the hand which held my gun ; the hand
and gun alone were visible above the
surface, and when a comrade dragged
him up, the gun was still untouched
by the water.
CHAPTER VI.
8IRCL NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA.
SIRCI is a considerable town, twenty
miles south of Soopah, and situated in
a wide plain everywhere encircled by
the forest. The teak- tree here dis-
appears almost entirely, and gives
place to less valuable timber, though
the forest is still as dense as ever.
The place was then the head-quarters
of the joint magistrate of Canara. My
friend, Mr. Samuel Neville Ward, who
held the office and was an excellent
public servant, was above all things a
107
io8 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
devoted naturalist, a very mine of in-
teresting lore in regard to the ways
of bird and beast, fish and reptile; he
was also a draughtsman of rare skill,
depicting things too perishable for pre-
servation, and stereotyping in this way
peculiarities of attitude and colouring
not easy of " record by other means.
In him the sportsman was effaced in
favour of the friendly observer of
Nature, who sought the haunts of her
wild races not for destruction but for
acquaintanceship.
It was his wont to pass many an
hour, watching from his concealment,
the ways of wild animals. He told
me that on one occasion he had seen
a string of eight or ten bison walk
up in succession to a heavy five-foot
SIRCI. NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 109
fence, and leap lightly over it into the
forest clearing it was intended to pro-
tect. The proportions of the bison
are so massive and so little suggestive
of leaping, that I could scarcely have
credited them with such a feat on other
authority than his. I need scarcely
add that my friend never used his
gun on these occasions. As regards
the protection of crops on forest clear-
ings, the cultivator does not trust
wholly to his fences, but watches, sling
in hand, on a strong stage, well raised
and screened from the rain.
I think Mr. Ward has presented to
the British Museum his collection of
coloured drawings of over four hundred
species of caterpillars. Each is de-
picted on the leaves it fed upon, and
i io WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
with the chrysalis, shown beside it,
into which it shrank ; the moth or
butterfly, which emerged in due course,
was preserved in the usual way, and
appended so as to complete the group.
Specimens of all sorts naturally
flowed in on a man of such tastes. I
remember seeing in his farm-yard
during my last visit a fine, vigorous
young bison calf, which promised to
take kindly to captivity, and raced
about the yard after his meals just as
happily as any ordinary calf would do.
It was a great disappointment when
the little bison, suddenly and without
visible cause, sickened and died; but
not before its owner, true to his in-
stincts, had drawn a faithful likeness
of it. I doubt if there is a living
SIRCI. NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. in
specimen in any European collection
of the bison of Western India.
About the same time a flying-squir-
rel, full grown and in perfect health,
was brought in ; probably it had been
taken when young from the nest by
its captor, for it seemed perfectly
happy in the iron-barred cage into
which we put it, a cage which had
been prepared for a long-promised but
as yet unsecured specimen of the real
tiger-cat of that region. Both the
flying-squirrel and the tiger-cat are
animals of extreme rarity, and I have
never before or since seen either of
them, either wild or in captivity. The
fly ing- squirrel is the largest of his
family, exceeding in size the ordinary
brown and orange squirrel of the
H2 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
western forests, which in its turn is
four times as large as the squirrel of
this country, being in fact about as
large as a wild rabbit. The colour of
the flying-squirrel is black, shading to
iron grey ; its length, including the tail,
cannot be less than two and a quarter
feet, and when the legs are extended
in leaping and the membrane which
then discloses itself is spread between
the hind and fore legs, the whole width
of surface is over a foot, and the
creature skims through the air like a
slate thrown horizontally.
The squirrel had not been in posses-
sion of the cage above a day or two
when a splendid tiger - cat, orange
and black was brought in ; there had
not been time to prepare a second
S1RCL NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 113
cage, and so after some hesitation a
partition was run across the cage in
its centre, dividing it into two com-
partments, each measuring about
eighteen inches by sixteen, and in this
way both the strangers seemed to be
fairly well lodged and without risk of
collision. During the daytime the
tiger-cat was quiet, but he made night
hideous at intervals by his yells. This
went on for two days, but on the
morning of the third day the tiger-
cat was found growling over the dead
body of the poor squirrel, which by
some means hard to conjecture he had
dragged into his own den, either
through the front bars or under the
partition. The squirrel was quite
dead, but it had not been torn or
ii4 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
mangled, and I had the beautiful skin
preserved and stuffed, but lost it some-
how when I left Canara. The sub-
sequent career of its wanton murderer
I do not remember.*
The approaches to Sirci were very
impressive. Broad level tracks, cut
straight through many a mile of for-
est, gave access to the seaports of the
western coast of India from the inland
provinces of Bellary, Belgaum, Darwar,
and Mysore, and the cotton, wheat, and
other produce raised there was carried
on pack cattle, a good deal of it passing
through Sirci on its way to the coast.
Here come the hereditary carriers
* Mr. Ward tells me the tiger-cat was sent to
England, but died at the mouth of the Thames
for want of fresh meat.
SIRCL NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 115
of southern India, with their countless
droves of oxen; clouds of white dust,
and the sound of many bells, and the
shouts of drovers announce their ap-
proach. It is evening, and they are
nearing their camping ground, which is
not far from the green sward on which
my tents are pitched, on the brow of
the ghaut at Neelcoond. The state-
liest oxen of the drove come first, mov-
ing slowly between vast bales of cotton ;
black tassels hang at the base of their
horns, and necklaces of bright brass
knobs suspend white shells from their
necks. Beasts of less mark follow, and
beside them at intervals come stalwart
gipsy-looking drovers, staff in hand,
attended by large, powerful dogs, not
unlike Scotch collies of the larger breed.
u6 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
Scarcely less imposing in appearance
are the women, each with her staff, and
sometimes a child carried upon the hip.
They wear a petticoat tied' at the waist,
a spencer above it, and on the head a
coloured shawl which falls over the
shoulders. Many bangles of brass or
glass adorn both the arms and the
ankles ; the effect of the costume, which
differs entirely from that of the Hindoo
women, is decidedly picturesque.
These people are Lumbadies, members
of the widely spread tribe which has for
centuries threaded the forests and bye-
ways of India, often provisioning armies
in the field (our own among the rest),
and always fulfilling their obligations
faithfully. In times of peace their office
has been to carry to the seaports and
SIRCI. NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 117
salt-works of the Indian coasts the sur-
plus produce of the inland provinces,
returning with salt for the supply of
their inhabitants. Hardy, persevering,
bold, owing nothing to favour, unrival-
led in their knowledge of their country,
these Lumbadies, or Brinjaries, as they
are called in some parts, have ren-
dered services not only valuable, but
indispensable to the Indian populations
and their rulers. Soon the railroads will
have usurped their functions, fulfilling
them, of course, far more effectively; but
not the less does the "old order" and
its service deserve grateful and lasting
remembrance.
By this time the bales of cotton are
being piled rampart- wise upon the ground,
and the camp fires are alight. The sun is
just sinking into the western sea, within
ii8 IVILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
view of my tents, and all the hill tops
are aflame with the sunset colours ; but
in the deeper and more distant valleys
hangs a rich sapphire dimness, like the
bloom upon grapes. The chill of sun-
down is spreading through the forest,
and already white mist comes wreathing
up from the ravine hard by ; it is time
to close the tents.
To-morrow morning the Lumbadies
and their charge will descend the Dava-
munile Grhaut to Meerjan. There, on the
banks of the broad estuary of the Tuddri,
near Grokern, the bales of cotton will be
transferred to the ferry boats, and a
thousand oxen will take the water and
swim across in order to be reloaded for
Coompta, seven or eight miles farther on.
As a regiment going into action must
count upon some loss, so surely will one
SIRCL NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 119
and another of the tired cattle give up
in mid-stream and turn over on its side,
the poor head will droop below the sur-
face, and the distended carcase will float
down to the sea. All this because the
Par see merchants from Bombay, having
set up their cotton screws and built
their warehouses at Coompta, which is
an open roadstead, refused to move to
Tuddri, where sites were offered them
on the shore of a well-protected anchor-
age. The break of bulk at the ferry,
with its wear and tear, the additional
stage of carriage to Coompta, the yearly
loss of cattle to the Lumbadies, the
risks of the open roadstead to the coun-
try craft, — all these counted for nothing
in comparison with the cost and trouble
of moving a few miles up the coast.
120 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
In 1848 an experienced engineer offi-
cer, General Frederick Cotton, visited
the Tuddri estuary, to examine its posi-
tion and capabilities as a port for coun-
try craft. The late Lord Gifford, who
was then travelling in India, came with
him, and we took soundings on the bar
at mean tide, finding, if I remember
right, fourteen feet of water, or depth
quite sufficient to admit small vessels.
But nothing would move the merchants
from Coompta.
The falls of Gairsappa have long been
justly reputed one of the sights of the
world ; for here a very considerable river
which divides North Canara from Mysore
falls from the tableland over a precipice
of a thousand feet into a wild and
beautiful ravine.
SIRCL NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 121
The road to the falls from Sirci passes
for two stages along the brow of the
ghauts, mostly through forest. But this
is not one of the broad thoroughfares
cut with Roman directness through the
woods, like the roads which lead coast-
ward ; it is a mere woodland path, and
crosses all the streams which make their
way down the ghaut. Of these, two or
three are of such breadth and volume as
to necessitate foot-bridges, and as two
or even three spans are needed, at least
two piers have to be built. Masonry
would be too costly and difficult, and in
its place native resource has devised a
kind of pier which, so long as its ma-
terials remain undecayed, answers admir-
ably. Circular crates of about six feet
in diameter and height are made by
122 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
working long tough lianas between cross
staves, hurdle-wise ; these are placed in
position and filled with great stones
taken from the bed of the torrent, and
out of the centre of the stones rise two
strong uprights, connected at intervals
by cross pieces. On the topmost cross
piece (of about two feet wide) rests the
footway, formed of poles lashed together,
side rails are added, and as the footway
is ten or twelve feet above the bed of
the stream, a sort of inclined plane or
ladder gives access to it from each bank
of the river. Horses must cross these
streams as best they may when the
water is low. At flood time they had
better stay at home.
Long before the traveller reaches the
scene the thunder of falling waters is in
SIRCI. NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 123
his ears, and lie catches distant glimpses
of the white cloud which hovers in the
ravine. When the river is brimful from
bank to bank, and its entire volume is
rolling over the precipice in one vast
wave, there is really little to be seen,
because the clouds so fill the whole ra-
vine as to shroud the scene. But when
the time of high flood has passed, the
waters are found to have parted into
four divisions, each of which as it passes
over the brink of the precipice assumes
an individual character totally unlike
the rest, just as four members of one
family may be found differing so strik-
ingly in face and form and temper, as
to make their common origin matter of
surprise.
In this family there is one plain and
124 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
unamiable member, called the " Roarer,"
who reminds one of a mad giant escaped
from Bedlam. He has ground and torn
the face of the rock in his downward
course, and is for ever frantically striv-
ing to shatter it further. The other
three wear forms of exquisite beauty.
The head of the family, called " The
Great Fall," makes one deliberate plunge
of a thousand feet, unbroken by contact,
and falling into a basin which has been
sounded for three hundred feet without
a bottom being reached. This matchless
column occupies a semi-circular niche in
the precipice, which looks like a shrine
hollowed out on purpose.
The other two falls, the "Rocket"
and the "Dame Blanche," owe their
peculiar characteristics to the form of
S1RCL NEELCOOND. GA1RSAPPA. 125
the rocks they encounter as they leave
the verge of the precipice.
The " Rocket " is at once shattered
by this contact out of all resemblance
to water, seeming to become a cloud of
snow, which is fain to descend in suc-
cessive bouquets of rockets. But in the
case of the "Dame Blanche," some
stately rock nymph, in human outlines
of the fairest, seems to have slipped
into her natural and appropriate robes
of water lace, so perfect is the illusion
of the ever-flowing drapery. A fre-
quent rainbow singles out for special
honour this peerless maiden.
Many persons find it impossible to
look from so profound a precipice as
that over which the river falls at Gair-
sappa. I have known one visitor who
126 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
not only found it necessary to lie flat
on his face, but had his legs firmly held
while he looked over the edge. A good-
sized fragment thrown from the summit
dwindles to a speck, and finally dis-
appears before it reaches the base ; and
to any one looking upward from the
pools below, men seem like crows upon
the top.
When the river is low, it is possible
by throwing temporary plank bridges
from rock to rock, to reach a ledge of
bare rock which projects about ten feet
beyond the face of the precipice, mid-
way between the " Dame Blanche " and
the " Roarer." Crawling out upon this
rugged projection, with nothing but the
sky above and the abyss below, the
deafening roar of waters in the ears,
SIRCI. NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 127
and the " water smoke " circling round
one, the falls may be looked at face to
face at very close quarters.
This venture has a strange fascina-
tion about it, as I can vouch, having
tried it. My wife and another lady
insisted on coming too, and we were all
three so wound up by the "exaltation"
of the situation, that none of the pain-
ful promptings which sometimes assail
people in such positions came to dis-
turb us.
THE FALLS OF GAIRSAPPA.
Voice of the cataract ! Upon the mist
Is borne the thunder of thy stern rebuke.
Where wast thou, mortal, when the hand of God
Quarried yon chasm in the living rock,
And rent the hills to give the torrent way ?
How pigmy on the verge thy stature shows,
Set on a rampart of a thousand feet !
128 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
Bend o'er the summit as the whirling clouds
Now shroud, now show, the strife of rock and flood
In depths where peace and silence never came.
Yet the blue pigeon circles at mid height,
And in the sprays the darting swallow bathes.
Grudge not the toil to track yon rugged stair,
Down where huge fragments strew the torrent's
bed,
Then turn and face the fairest scene on earth.
How goodly are thy robes, thou foam-clad queen,
With hues of heaven woven in thy skirt ;
Thy misty veil, how gracefully it falls ;
For ever falls, and yet unveils thee not !
What ails thee, 0 fair stream, that thou art
wrought
To fling thyself a snow-cloud on the winds,
Thy substance lost and all thy being changed ?
In countless flights thy silent heralds come.
Now errant shoot, now seem to hang in air,
Then quiver down the gloom of the abyss,
And die like meteors in November skies.
Yonder moves one like hero to his doom,
Resolved, serene, not parting from the verge
S1RCL NEELCOOND. GAIRSAPPA. 129
Or wildly or in haste, sublime of mien,
The noble emblem of a noble end ;
For ever set a wonder and a praise,
The highest, goodliest column of the world.
Far other mood is his, yon giant shape,
Borne on reluctant and resisting hurled,
With raving protest, from the precipice.
Rave on, and roll thy rude bulk o'er the rocks,
And be for aye the foil to others' praise !
K
CHAPTER VII.
A VISIT TO THE HAIGAHS.
ABOUT twenty miles from Belikeri,
among the lower slopes of the hills, and
in a region where the forest gives place
here and there to open grassy hills,
were a cluster of villages inhabited by
Haigah Brahmins, a race seldom to be
met with in Canara, and of whom I
have never heard elsewhere. These are
the only Brahmins who undertake any
kind of manual labour, and even with
them it is limited to the cultivation of
130
A VISIT TO THE HAIGAHS. 131
the gardens in which they grow the
arica palm.
I had never seen a Haigah until 1
undertook an expedition to visit one of
their villages under peculiar circum-
stances. During the rains a death had
occurred in this village, regarding which
it seemed doubtful whether the de-
ceased, a young man of twenty, had
committed suicide by hanging himself
in the cowhouse, as reported by his
family, or whether a family quarrel had
led to an act of vengeance.
There was no evidence forthcoming
as to the manner of the death, and it
seemed to me that an inspection of the
place would at least show whether it
was possible for a man to hang himself
in the manner described.
132 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
I resolved, therefore, to make this
inspection in person, and without notice.
It was not practicable to take a horse,
as the forest streams were sure to be
full, and I began the journey in a ton-
jon ; but after travelling about seven
miles, we came to an unfordable torrent,
the only means of crossing which was
a tiny " dugout," of rude construction,
and very crank. Here, therefore, I
sent back the tonjon, resolving to walk
the rest of the way.
Honama and ten or twelve of his
shikaries were with me, carrying my
baggage, but none of these had skill
enough to work the " dugout " to- and
fro, neither could either of the two
peons who accompanied me undertake it.
In this dilemma a man of action came
A VISIT TO THE HAIGAHS. 133
to the front unexpectedly, in the person
of Domingo, my Concani dressing-boy
(or valet). He was a shy little fellow,
active and intelligent, slim and good-
looking, and not in the least like the
practised waterman he showed himself.
He came forward, examined the canoe,
seized the bit of board which was to
serve for a paddle, then placing a hand
on each side of the stern, he gave the
tiny boat a vigorous shoot into the
stream, springing from the bank as he
did so, and poising his weight on his
hands as he curled his legs into the
stern; seated there, he shot the canoe
across like an arrow, and returning
ferried over, in a number of successive
trips, everybody and everything belong-
ing to us.
134 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
We were delayed too long at this
place to attempt to reach our destina-
tion that day, and I passed the night
rather miserably in the little veranda
of a native house, belonging to the
Potail of a forest hamlet on our
way.
Next morning down came the rain,
but we found the streams passable, and
reached the Haigah village that evening,
wet and weary, and much bullied by the
tiny jungle leeches which fasten on
one's ankles and legs, and sometimes
drop from the boughs on to the neck of
the passer-by.
The Haigahs installed me in the
spacious stone portico of their temple,
and neither priest nor layman objected
when Domingo brought in a basin of
A VISIT TO THE HAIGAHS. 135
water and bathed my bleeding ankles.
There, too, I dined and slept, tant
bien que mal, owing such comforts
as I got to Domingo's resource and
activity.
The next day was fine, and I looked
out from the temple on a scene of un-
expected beauty. I was on the confines
of the forest, and all up the sides of the
open hills rose, terrace above terrace,
the gardens of the Haigahs, and their
picturesque chalets. Little rills were
led through the gardens, and fell from
terrace to terrace, and over all this
waved groves of the most graceful of
the palm family.
I visited the house where the de-
ceased had lived, and saw the rest of
the family. I found the Haigahs a
136 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
frank, manly race, large of limb and
fairer than any Hindoos I have seen.
I even thought I saw a ruddy tint in
the cheeks of the younger men.
They took me at once to the village
cowhouse, which was on the border of
the pasture land, about a quarter of a
mile off, and pointed out the beam from
which the poor young fellow was found
hanging. First, however, the herdsman
drew me away from the door, and
placed me behind the corner of the
building while he let out the cattle.
This was a necessary precaution, for
the herd burst out like a torrent,
shaggy half- wild buffaloes of the breed
found in Soopah; a stranger standing
opposite the door would instantly have
been swept away.
A VISIT TO THE HAIGAHS. 137
It was no pleasant undertaking to
make one's way inside this place. I
found, however, on examining it, that
it would be perfectly easy for a man to
stand on the rack which ran along the
side of the building, tie a rope to the
beam, and swing himself off from the
rack. With this presumption in favour
of the story of suicide I was forced to
be content ; I could learn nothing more,
and left my Haigah friends as wise as I
came.
The arica palm, to which I have here
alluded, is cultivated in India, so far as
I know, only in the western provinces.
It is so valuable and beautiful a member
of the palm tribe, and so little known,
that a description will not be out of
place.
138 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
A slender shaft from thirty to forty
feet high, and having a diameter at base
of no more than six inches, supports a
dark green crown of large heavy leaves
of more massive appearance than the
foliage of the cocoa-nut, the date, or the
sago-palm.
During the fruiting season the nuts
hang in clusters below the leaves, and
enhance the beauty of the effect. As the
climber ascends to gather them, the tree
sways with his weight, and when he has
gathered the ripe nuts he can, by oscil-
lating the stem vigorously from side to
side, grasp the leaves of the adjoining
tree, and draw himself on to its crown ;
and thus without the toil of climbing
each tree in succession, he visits the
whole of the plantation.
A VISIT TO THE HAIGAHS. 139
The nut of the arica palm, or soo-
pari, as it is called in Hindostani, is
known to Europeans as " betel nut," a
corruption of " vetelei," which is the
Tamil name of the leaf in which the
nut is rolled when it is chewed. I need
scarcely say that the enormous demand
for this nut throughout the East makes
the crop very valuable.
Monkeys are fond of the pulp which
covers the nut, and as the plantations
are generally near the forest, these
plunderers often visit and rob the trees.
Doleful, and of course exaggerated,
complaints of the evil deeds of the
monkeys used to be poured into my
ears at settlement time by the owners
of gardens in forest neighbourhoods;
but they had various devices for check-
HO WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA
mating the monkeys, and did not lose
so much as they pretended.
When the soil and other conditions
favoured its cultivation, the cardamom
was often grown between the rows of
arica trees. No curry is complete with-
out a certain admixture of this spice;
so that it is in great demand as a con-
diment in all parts of India, besides
its medicinal value.
The blossom of the plant resembles a
gladiolus, and is very beautiful, the white
wax-like bells being tinted inside with
vermilion and orange.
The manner in which the cardamom is
raised in the hill forests of Malabar and
on the Anamalie mountains of Coim-
batore, seems to involve the vexed ques-
tion of spontaneous generation. The
A VISIT TO THE HAIGAHS. 141
manner of its growth is as follows :
the prospecter for cardamom cultiva-
tion selects a forest glade where shade
and sunshine are fairly balanced ; it
must be sheltered and moist, and the
trees it grows, must be of the soft-
wooded kinds which decay rapidly after
they are cut down.
These trees are felled and left to rot
on the ground for three years, and at
the end of that time the cardamom
springs up unsown, owing its existence,
apparently, simply to certain conditions
of soil and climate. I do not venture
into the scientific arena, but personally
I find no difficulty in believing that
the productive energy imparted to the
earth under the Divine command to
"bring forth " abundantly, is still active
142 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
under peculiar conditions outside the
law which makes the renewal of vege-
table life by means of seed the usual
rule.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE NILGHERRIES. AN IBEX BEFORE
BREAKFAST.
THE Mlgherry hills attain a height of
from eight to nine thousand feet, and
therefore might fairly claim to be called
mountains; but no one accords them
that dignified name, because, though
here and there rocky peaks and pre-
cipitous crags are to be met with, the
prevailing aspect of the summits is
soft and rounded, and the slopes are
green and sweeping. It is a surprise
to the traveller who gradually climbs
143
H4 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
the steep sides of the grand ravine
by which Conoor is approached, to find
himself emerging from the companion-
ship of woods and crags into an un-
dulating plateau of huge green downs
sloping down to broad, saucer-shaped
valleys, a land of wild flowers and
running streams and scattered coppices.
The plateau extends irregularly for
between twenty and thirty miles, with
an average breadth of somewhat less,
presenting its greatest elevation to the
west, from which quarter it is visited
by the rains of the south-west monsoon
from June to September. During this
period the western summits pass much
of their time in the clouds, though
there occur delicious " breaks in the
monsoon," during which the sun makes
THE NILGHERRIES. 145
amends for his frequent absence, and
the flowers get quite beyond bounds.
The eastern faces of the plateau get
their principal rainfall from the north-
east monsoon in November, December,
and the first week of January, and they
enjoy besides whatever the clouds of
the south-west monsoon have to spare
after deluging the western hills.
Making allowance for an over -liberal
amount of rain and wind at certain
times, there is not a more beautiful
range of country and a more enjoyable
climate to be found anywhere in the
East than on these hills; and though
large game is said to be getting scarce
near the three stations where English
life chiefly congregates, yet to those who
do not shrink from the fatigues of seeking
L
146 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
for them, bison, elk, ibex, and of course
tigers, leopards, and bears are still to
be found ; so that a sportsman can still
find much to attract him on the Nil-
gherries. During a hasty visit to the
JSTilgherries in 1853, I made a special
expedition to the haunts of the ibex,
an animal I had never yet shot and
had only once seen. Ibex are only
found on those skirts of the hills, where
both the green slopes and the forests
which clothe the sides of the plateau
give place to crag and precipice. Here
grow the herbs they love, and here
alone are to be found the perilous
homes accessible to none but themselves
and the eagles, and in which they find
peace and security.
Making inquiries in the proper
THE N1LGHERRIES. 147
quarter, I was introduced to two shika-
ries who vowed to show me an ibex,
and engaged to be ready at daylight
next morning to accompany me. The
plan was that we should start at day-
light from Ootacamund, make straight
for a traveller's bungalo on the Pycaroo
River, distant twelve miles, breakfast
there, and then spend the day among
the crags in the company of the ibex.
We were to follow the bridle road to
Pycaroo, and I chartered a decent pony
to carry me there, having brought no
horses with me to the hills.
Before we had gone many miles my
shikaries began communing together
for my benefit. " What a pity to keep
to the bridle road, when by striking
across the hills we might pass close
148 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
to an ibex ground and just examine
it ; who knows but the sahib might
get a buck before breakfast ! " So the
sahib, against his better judgment, for-
sook the road and took to the hill-
sides. The first drawback to this
course soon presented itself; a brook
at the bottom of one of the long slopes
had to be crossed, the hither bank high
and broken, but the opposite landing
a sward of emerald moss. The width
was no great matter, and within the
pony's compass ; he gathered himself
bravely for the leap, and landed well
on the centre of the moss, — disappear-
ing up to the withers ! the said moss
being a moss in a different sense from
what I fondly supposed. Such places
are common enough on the Nilgherries.
THE NILGHERRIES. 149
but I was not then up to the decep-
tion. I scuttled out, and we hauled
up the poor pony well coated with black
mud. A little farther on, the track led
us along the edge of a landslip which
had broken away the ground below the
path on our left, to the right the hill-
side rose smooth and grassy, and on
it grazed a herd of half-wild buffaloes
of the Toda aborigines. The lodges
(or munds) of this singular race are
now extremely rare; as not more than
five hundred of the tribe survive, they
are to be found only in secluded spots,
and near them graze the shaggy herds
on whose milk they chiefly subsist.
These buffaloes are often dangerous to
strangers, and when we came in sight
the herd galloped wildly down towards
150 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
us. At ten paces from the path they
halted in line, staring at us with their
noses in the air. The landslip obliged
us to pass close in front of them, and
telling my men to follow very quietly,
and assuming an indifference I was far
from feeling, I moved slowly past the
forest of horns and noses, prepared to
fire and stampede them if they moved.
Fortunately for us not a head was
lowered, and as we cleared the phalanx
the herdsman ran yelling down the
hill, a call which seemed to calm the
herd, and they submitted to be driven
upward. From this point I sent the
mud-cased pony to Pycaroo, and de-
voted myself to the ibex I was to shoot
before breakfast. On and on we
prowled along the brows of grand
THE NILGHERR1ES. 151
precipices, peering over the edges and
creeping stealthily among the clefts.
Every new stretch of ground we
reached was to be absolutely the last.
" We would just look round and then
go to breakfast." Noon came, and tho-
roughly famished I was about to turn,
when one of my men actually sighted
ibex. Beckoning me to the ledge over
which he was gazing, he pointed far
far down, half-way to the plains as it
seemed to me, and there, on a grassy
ledge at the foot of one precipice and
on the brow of another, were four or
five brown specks, which after much
scrutiny resolved themselves into ibex
lying down. " How are we to get near
them?" I asked; for in truth nothing
but a balloon could have carried one
152 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
either up or down the precipice. " You
cannot go down, sahib ; but at about
two o'clock the ibex will feed slowly
upwards, and we can take you to a spot
where they will come within shot."
Relinquishing all hopes of breakfast,
I sat down in the spot pointed out to
me, to wait the ascent of the ibex,
while my guides went on to watch an
alternative position. Never did two
hours seem so interminable; but at
last, on a rock about sixty paces below
me, there suddenly and without warning
stood, like an apparition, an ibex and
her kid. As the pretty creature paused
for a moment and looked about her, I
fired; the ibex bounded into the air
and disappeared utterly. I saw nothing
more of her, and was resigning myself
THE NILGHERR1ES. 153
to disappointment, when on the very
same rock, and standing just as the doe
had stood, there appeared a buck ! My
first had been a steady, careful shot, and
now, resting the gun on a rock, I fired
my second barrel with still greater care.
Again there was an upward bound,
and the buck was gone! This was
too grievous, but just then came a shout
from below, and the shikaries an-
nounced that they had seen the buck
when I fired, and that he had fallen
into a ravine. Down they went ac-
cordingly, nothing daunted, and after
a scramble lasting about half an hour,
they brought me up the head of the
buck (which carried a handsome pair
of horns) and a hind quarter. The
shikaries had been watching another
154 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
point when my first shot was fired,
and had not seen what became of the
doe. I reached Pycaroo by four
o'clock in the afternoon, exhausted but
happy.
The next day was devoted to elk
stalking in a different direction, and
amidst very different scenery. Truly
the elk had there a glorious region for
their wanderings, and I longed to en-
close a park of a few square miles in
situations where interminable stretches
of green lawn descended far away to-
wards the plains, flanked on either side
by stately woods. In other places the
skirt of heavy forest was drawn higher
up the slopes of the hills, or even in-
vaded the upper plateau; and some-
times isolated woods and winding open
THE NILGHERRIES. 155
glades divided the land equally between
them, interlapping like fiord and head-
land.
After wandering all the forenoon
among these fair scenes, shooting a
young elk and seeing others at inter-
vals, I lunched, and sat down on a
hill-side to watch the outskirts of a
wood about four hundred yards below
me, where elk were known to harbour.
At four o'clock, if an elk was in the
wood he would be sure to come out to
graze.
The slope of the hill on which I
sat did not descend evenly, but ended
in three or four .knolls separated by
corresponding depressions, thus break-
ing the outline of the ground where
it skirted the wood; there the grass
156 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
grew tall and rank almost breast high,
but on the hill-side it was short.
My companions had withdrawn, to
watch another point, they said, but I
rather think they went to sleep, for
when at four o'clock a noble stag
which had been lying down in the
long grass near the wood rose out of
one of the depressions and stretched
himself, no one saw him but myself.
I instantly sank down flat and drew
myself out of his ken. My plan of
action was obvious. I could lower my-
self on my back down the hill to the skirt
of the wood without coming into view ;
there would then be three little knolls
and hollows between me and the stag,
and as I crawled up the brow of the
third knoll, I should be within thirty
THE NILGHERRIES. 157
yards. When I reached the bottom
of the hill, I took to my hands and
knees, and crept painfully on. As I
mounted the third and last slope, I
became conscious that my hands were
getting unsteadied ; but my calculations
had been exact, and as I cautiously
rose to my knees I saw right in front
of me, through the grass, the outlines
of a pair of round ears and a dark
muzzle. The elk was taking stock
of me, and not a moment was to be
lost ; so without rising higher, and
steadying myself by a desperate effort,
I aimed through the nodding grass-
tops, six inches below the nose of the
elk, in a line to reach the throat.
There was a rush, and I started to
my feet ; the elk was off, but at about
158 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
seventy yards he stopped and turned
his side to me. I raised the rifle for
a fatal shot.
To my amazement and disgust all
power of control was gone from me ;
the muzzle of the gun waved wildly to
and fro. I could not cover him, and
fired I knew not where. Away went
the elk, but rather slowly, and just
then the two shikaries came over the
brow where he disappeared. " Run,
sahib, run ! " they shouted ; " the elk
is lying down just over the hill." I
started to run, but the rebellion in the
camp was not confined to my hands
and arms, my legs would not run, I
could barely compel them to a slow
jog-trot. However, we followed the
wounded stag along the Pycaroo river,
THE NILGHERRIES. 159
tracking him by the blood for some
miles, till we approached a little wood
by the river side, and saw on the hill
beyond it some hill-men running down
to us. The elk was in the wood, they
said ; so we formed line and searched
it through and through, but without suc-
cess. It grew dark, and the shikaries
declared that the stag must have lain
down in the river, leaving only his
nostrils clear of the surface, this being
a known way of concealment practised
by wounded elk. After this there
was nothing for it but to grope our
way back to Pycaroo, and next morn-
ing I was obliged to return. The elk
I shot looked near fourteen hands
high, but his horns were in the velvet.
A dear friend of mine, now dead,
160 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
a keen sportsman and as fine a fellow
as ever stepped, told me that when
elk- stalking in the same neighbourhood
(possibly in the same spot), he had
seen from the hill a large animal
moving in the grass, which he took
to be an elk, and which he proceeded
to stalk much as I had done. He
too crawled through the long grass
and raised his head as he drew near
his game, and then saw in front of
him no elk, but the great round face
of a tiger. He only had with him a
light single-barrelled rifle, and it would
have been madness to fire; so he at
once dropped and drew quietly back-
wards. "I thought the brute would
hear my heart beating, it made such
a row," he told me. His friend watch-
THE NILGHERRIES. 161
ing his movements from the hill-side,
saw that something was wrong, and
came running down ; and when he
looked up again the tiger had dis-
appeared.
On another day the same two com-
panions in search of elk as before,
again ascended a hill- side and sat
down to watch the wood below,
through which they had just passed*
They had not watched long when
just at the point where they quitted
the wood there emerged not an elk
but a tiger ; he came out with his
nose to the ground and began ascend-
ing the hill, still sniffing on the exact
line they had followed. They watched
the brute with indignant and unpleasant
surprise. Could he be stalking them?
162 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
This soon became no longer doubtful,
so they took counsel and mounted into
the branches of a small tree near at
hand, agreeing that when the tiger
reached a certain point A. should fire,
B. keeping his gun in reserve. The
tiger continued slowly to mount the
hill towards them ; and as they sat
and watched him the suspense grew
more and more trying. At last the
man who was to have reserved his
shot could stand it no longer, and fired,
missing the tiger altogether ! But the
shot had the effect of leading the tiger
to reconsider the matter ; he looked
about him, roared, and finally turned
and went down the hill again. And
so ended a rather exciting after-
noon
THE NILGHERRIES. 163
Among the rather numerous enemies
of the elk, the wild dog holds a fore-
most place. A pack of wild dogs hunts
down game just as a pack of stag-
hounds would do, following the scent
staunchly to the end. These dogs cor-
respond to the coyotes of South
America, and are dreaded by every
beast of the forest, not excepting the
tiger. They do not attack man, but
would probably resent his interference
with their proceedings. The colour is
always a fox-like red, and the size and
shape are those of a slightly built fox-
hound, but the muzzle is sharp, and
the ears erect. My friend Mr. Ward
assured me that the wild dog stands in
awe of his domestic brother, and that
a pointer of his ran into the midst of
164 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
a pack, was received with deference,
and kidnapped a puppy unmolested.
I once fell in with a pack of wild
dogs not far from Pycaroo, as I was
riding to Sispara. Apparently they
had just concluded a run, as they were
lying at ease on the sward outside a
wood. I cantered up to the pack in
order that I might see the wild dogs
more closely. They did not run off: as
I expected, but rose lazily, and moved
but a short distance. "When I returned
to the bridle road, four of the dogs rose
and trotted after me, sniffing at my
horse's heels. On one side of the
scarped path the hill rose steeply, and
when one of the dogs leaped up the
bank, and trotted alongside me, he was
on a level with my saddle, and not three
THE NILGHERRIES. 165
paces off. I thought it necessary to
draw my hunting-knife, and hold it
between me and this inquisitive dog,
as I did not half like these attentions.
I kept the horse at a walk, lest they
should fancy he was a beast of the
chase, and so we went on for about a
hundred yards, to a point where a small
stream crossed the track. Here the
dogs began lapping the water, and lay
down in it, nor did they follow me any
further ; probably they never meant to
do so, but their familiarity, so different
from the habits of wolf or jackal, struck
me as very strange. Perhaps some
latent instinct attracts them to man,
and to those of their own race whom he
has made his friends and companions.
In speaking of the wild animals
1 66 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
which are to be found on the Nilgher-
ries, I must not omit the elephant ; but
elephants wander far and wide, and
they are but casual visitors on the
higher slopes. Some years ago, Mr.
Wedderburn, a member of the Madras
service, lost his life when elephant
shooting on these hills; he was watch-
ing from his concealment the move-
ments of an elephant he had wounded,
and fancying that he could reach a
better position unperceived, left his
place and moved across. He was in-
stantly seen and chased; the ground
was rough, and as he ran he stumbled
and fell, and was at once overtaken by
the elephant and killed.
In the deep forest which lies between
the western face of the Nilgherries and
THE NILGHERRIES. i6f
the town and port of Calicut, elephants
are often found, and at one time
travellers on the road leading from
Calicut to the Sispara ghaut, which
ascends the hills on that side, were ex-
posed to interruption from this cause.
A friend of mine travelling with his
wife and his servant along this road
had a very hazardous meeting with a
rogue elephant near the foot of the
ghaut.
The party travelled in palanquins,
carried by bearers in the usual Indian
fashion. On a sudden there was a cry
of alarm, and the bearers, dropping
their burdens, dashed into the jungle.
Mr. M had just time to drag his
wife behind the trees when the angry
tusker reached the spot. Fortunately
1 68 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA.
the brute was so much interested in the
palanquins that he did not concern
himself about the fugitives ; his anger
appeared to concentrate itself on Mr.
M 's palanquin. He overthrew it,
crushed it, tore it open, and finally
stamped upon it so perseveringly that
scarcely a bit of it over the size of a
plate was left unbroken. Having thus
vindicated his seignorial rights, the
elephant departed as he had come.
Next day a party of shikaries started
to exterminate this elephant, and bands
of woodcutters cleared away the under-
wood for ten or twenty paces on the
margin of the track, so that when, a
fortnight later, my wife and I traversed
the same forest, we were assured the
road was safe. Nevertheless, on the
THE NILGHERRIES. 169
lower part of the ghaut,* we came on
fresh traces of an elephant, and I
walked the whole way with my gun on
my shoulder.
* This ghaut has been disused for some years.
CHAPTER IX.
GANJAM.
THE province of Granjam 'extends along
the Coromandel coast from Calingapa-
tam to the confines of Orissa; it lies
between the sea and the Khond and
Sourah hills, and is peopled partly by
Teloogoos and partly by Ooriyahs. The
ancient kingdom of Orissa once included
the whole of Granjam as far south as
Calingapatam, but the Ooriyah popula-
tion were thrust back from the sea-
coast 'and the open plains adjoining it
by a stronger race than themselves, and
170
GANJAM. 171
they now inhabit the semi-forest region
skirting the hills, and cultivate the
lands of some eight or ten zemindari
estates, the appanages of ancient Oori-
yah families.
The Teloogoos are a strong and manly
race, differing from the Ooriyahs much
as the Germans differ from the French ;
they are ryots holding their lands direct
from the British Government.
In times still more remote, the Oori-
yahs must have dispossessed and driven
into the hills the Khond and Sourah
tribes who now inhabit them. Where
these races are in contact with the
Ooriyah zemindaries, they acknowledge
a sort of fealty to the zemindar, but
this authority is of a vague character,
and does not extend far, and except in
i?2 GANJAM.
so far as the British Government has
interfered to suppress human sacrifice,
female infanticide, and crimes of vio-
lence, Khonds and Sourahs are left
very much to themselves.
These two aboriginal races have no-
thing in common, and keep apart from
each other. The Sourahs are short,
wiry men, of fair complexion, fierce,
cunning, and inclined to robbery; the
Khonds are a dark-skinned race of
gentler nature, much addicted to carry-
ing formidable-looking weapons, but
not prompt to use them. They carry
on their tribal feuds in a slow, cere-
monious, Homeric fashion, and are by
no means bloodthirsty.
There is not a single trait, physical,
social, or religious, to connect either of
GANJAM. 173
these aboriginal tribes with the Hindoos,
nor is there any affinity of language ;
the hillmen visit the bazaars and mar-
kets of the low country, bringing down
turmeric and taking back cattle, cloth,
and brass ware, but there is no disposi-
tion on either side for further inter-
course.
One curious evidence of former dis-
possession and uprooting is to be found
in the Khond ignorance of the uses of
milk ; they have now acquired cattle,
and they breed them and use them both
for the plough and for food, but they
never attempt to milk their cows. Prob-
ably when they were driven from their
ancient seats they were stripped of
everything, and remained for genera-
tions without cattle.
174 GANJAM.
Tobacco grows round every village in
these hills, and the Khonds smoke it
from their earliest childhood, and stick
their pipes and half-smoked cheroots
in their matted hair, having no other
pocket available. The Sourah, however,
as far as I observed, prefers to use his
tobacco in the form of snuff. Every man
of them carries somewhere about him a
tiny snuff-box, shaped like a humming-
top, and made from the rind of the
wood-apple ; it contains pale, high-dried
snuff, made from the baked stalk of the
leaf, and is very strong. There can be
little doubt that the free use of tobacco
in the feverish valleys of the Khond
plateau is a preservative from fever and
ague.
The weapons of these tribes are the
GANJAM. 175
bow and arrow, a long-handled, formid-
able-looking battle-axe, and the quarter-
staff. Their Oorijah neighbours possess
fire-arms and manufacture gunpowder.
West of the Khond highlands lie the
wild forests of Bus tar and Kharonde,
inhabited by the Gond race. In very
many Khond villages two or three
families of Gonds are to be found.
They are the potters and weavers of the
community, and their position among
the Khonds seems to suggest that they
may have been detained in order to
render these services while others of
their race were driven westward to the
deeper forests by the Khonds when
they themselves retired before the Oori-
yahs.
The Gond hand-loom and its produc-
1 76 GANJAM.
tions are of the rudest description, and
many of the Gonds of the Kharonde
and Bustar forests are entirely without
clothing. Their pottery, however, is
often prettily shaped, being evidently
moulded on the pattern of the bottle-
gourd, that curious natural exemplar
which seems to have been specially
formed for the instruction of the potter.
These gourds, which are produced in
endless variety of proportion, from the
flat-bodied, long-necked goblet to the
capacious bottle with mouthpiece of
suitable length, are common in the
Khond villages, and the potters imitate
their outlines.
The history of the successive races
which have inhabited G-anjam is thus a
mere repetition of what has occurred
GANJAM. 177
in many other countries, the weakest
everywhere giving way to the more
civilised and powerful ; and the case is
only so far exceptional that the steps of
the process are still so plainly discern-
ible, and that the different races, though
in juxta-position, have not amalgamated
as in European countries, Teloogoo
and Ooriyah, Khond, Sourah and Glond,
remain as distinct from each other as
at the first ; and the same separation
obtains throughout Central India in the
case of the G-onds of the Nerbudda
valley, the Bheels and other aboriginal
tribes.
I took charge of the district of Gran-
jam in 1858, and a year or two later the
special agency for the suppression of
human sacrifices and infanticide among
N
1 78 GANJAM.
the Khonds was added to my duties.
This involved a yearly visit to the hill
region, and brought with it opportuni-
ties of closer acquaintance with its in-
habitants.
Apart from these special sources of
interest, Granjam contained much that
was worthy of note, and a residence of
nine years in the district (including a
temporary absence in England) has in-
duced me to devote the following chap-
ters to recording such portions of my
experience there as are likely to be of
general interest.
The hill ranges, of which I have
spoken, give the district a very irregular
border on its western side. They recede
from the coast to a distance of seventy
or eighty miles at the northern and
GANJAM. 179
southern extremities, and advance to
within twenty miles of the sea towards
the centre, where the great detached
mountain, known in ancient Hindoo
story as Mahendragiri, attains a height
of nearly five thousand feet, and flanks
the plain for a distance of twenty miles.
Another extensive cluster of hills pro-
jects from the main range to the north
of Mahendra, and approaches within
fifteen miles of the sea. A few Khond
villages are scattered among these last
named hills, which are almost isolated
from the rest of the Khond highlands,
and are surrounded by the cultivated
lands of the Ooriyah villages. The
Teloogoo population ceases at about
this point, and gives place to the Oori-
yah Zemindaries, which extend north-
i8o GANJAM.
ward and westward as far as the borders
of the beautiful Chilka Lake, which
separates G-anjam from Cuttack and
Pooree (or Jugganath).
CHAPTER X.
THE CHILKA.
THE Chilka Lake extends from Pooree
to the neighbourhood of the town of
Ganjam, a distance of nearly fifty miles,
with an average width of ten miles. It
is separated from the sea by a narrow
sandy plain, but is bordered on its
inland side by a varied and beautiful
margin of hill and woodland. The lake
is fed by a branch of the Mahanuddi
(which joins the sea near Pooree), and
during the rains its surplus waters cut
181
1 82 GANJAM.
their way to the sea at the narrowest
point of the intervening plain, by a
channel which remains open to the tide
for the greater part of the year.
Thus the Chilka is neither wholly
salt nor wholly fresh; but it is full
of fish, produces immense quantities of
prawns, and is in consequence the
resort of great numbers of wild fowl.
Pelicans and cormorants of different
sorts fish its waters, and waders of all
sizes and species feed along its shores.
The osprey and the fish hawk are
always to be seen there, and vast flocks
of wild duck and teal of many varieties
make it their favourite haunt.
Among the rocks at the base of the
hills which here and there descend into
the lake, colonies of otters find a con-
THE CHILKA. 183
genial home, and where there is space
for a margin of green turf, the peafowl
steals out from among the overhanging
bamboo clumps, morning and evening,
to pick up small marine insects.
Several islands are scattered about
the lake, some flat and rush-grown,
where water-rail and teal, and some
other species breed, and where col-
lectors of eggs may find specimens not
often procurable. But the most remark-
able of the group is Bird Island, a high
pile of boulders at the southern end of
the lake, and distant about two miles
from the shore. It is greatly favoured
by birds of many sorts as a breeding-
place. Even birds which usually build
on the mainland, like the osprey and
the common blue pigeon, seem to prefer
184 GANJAM.
the security and solitude of the lonely
island.
There is an osprey's nest on the
stunted tree which has rooted itself
among the boulders on the top of the
pile, and among the multitude of birds
of all sorts which rise from the rocks
and darken the air when a gun is fired,
the intrusive blue pigeon is conspicuous.
If a boat approaches Bird Island
quietly, the representatives of many
families may be seen on their nests
between or under the rocks : the heron
and the crested heron, the white egret
and the black water-crow or cormorant,
and the snake bird, a larger kind of
cormorant, so called because only the
snake-like neck and head are visible
above water as the bird swims. The
THE CHILKA. 185
grave, awkward-looking and helpless
young of the pelican are to be seen
squatted on a flat rock five or six feet
above the water, from which it would
be easy for the parent bird to push
them down into the lake. I have also
seen flamingoes and other cranes on the
island, but I do not think they breed
there.
"We collected many kinds of eggs
among the rocks, the prevailing colour
among them was a pale bluish green,
and the shape an elongated and pointed
oval; some four eggs only were white.
A pair of young crested herons, nearly
full fledged, were also carried off on one
of our visits, and for a time throve
upon the fish we gave them. They
were very pugnacious birds, and full of
i86 GANJAM.
life ; but they came at last to an un-
timely end, I think from over- eating.
The lee side only of Bird Island is
in favour with the birds, none are to
be seen in the quarter exposed to the
south-west monsoon.
A quarter of a mile from the western
shore of the Chilka is Deer Island, a
low sandy islet, almost covered with
thicket, except along its shores, where
the rise and fall of tidal water only
permits the growth of a wide margin of
saline turf. There are glades here and
there among the underwood and a few
trees. The whole length of the little
island is less than a mile. This is the
chosen haunt of a small herd of spotted
deer, which seems to cross at pleasure
from the mainland, some of them being
THE CHILKA. 187
almost always to be found on "Deer
Island." If the covert is beaten with
great care and perseverance, beginning
from the northern end, it is sometimes
possible to get a shot when the deer
double back on the beaters along the
open margin ; but the underwood is so
dense, and the deer show so much cun-
ning in creeping on their knees under
thickets or lying resolutely hidden in
impenetrable brakes, that small as is the
area of Deer Island, it affords a fairly
secure retreat to its inhabitants.
I often observed alligators in the
channel between the island and the
mainland, probably they were able oc-
casionally to seize a deer as the herd
crosses.
The sandy plain which separates the
i88 GANJAM.
Chilka Lake from the sea is not more
than two miles wide, and it becomes
gradually narrower towards the spot
where the lake is open to the sea. Con-
siderable herds of antelope graze over
this plain, which is in parts thinly
clothed with grass, and they may be
stalked and coursed there. On one
occasion a deer drive of a singular kind
occurred on this narrow spit of land.
The 5th Regiment Native Infantry was
on the march from G-anjam to Pooree,
and as the cholera prevailed along the
high road west of the lake, the regiment
marched along its eastern side. The
antelope retired as the troops advanced,
accumulating before them in an increas-
ing multitude. Finding the spit nar-
rowing, the commanding officer formed
THE CHILKA. 189
the regiment in single line across it, so
as at last to cover the entire width, and
thus the antelope were enclosed between
the lake, the sea, and the advancing
line. Gradually forced towards the
water, the herd suddenly stopped,
turned, and rushing straight at the line,
bounded clean over the men's heads and
broke away.
Over the safe and tranquil water
way, afforded by the Chilka Lake, a
constant traffic is kept up between
Pooree and Rhumba, a small town at
the Ganjam end of the lake. The rice
grown in Ganjam is of a finer sort than
that produced on the delta lands of the
Mahanuddi near Pooree, and is more in
demand for the European export trade ;
consequently the thrifty ryots of Gan-
IQO . GANJAM.
jam furnish exporters with their own
produce at remunerative prices, and
themselves consume the cheaper grain
brought from Pooree to Rhumba on the
Chilka boats.
There, too, is landed a good deal of
oil-cake, not destined, as might be sup-
posed, to fatten cattle, but to be used as
manure on the plots where sugar-cane
is cultivated. Richly manured land and
nine months' supply of water are needed
for the sugar crop, of which a good deal
is raised in Ganjam, and for this, oil-
cake manure is highly esteemed.
The boats used on the lake are curi-
osities in their way. Seen at a little
distance the rise of the gunwale outline
at stem and stern gives these craft an
antique and classic look, but closer
THE CHILKA. 191
examination shows them to be mere
oblong boxes, with flat bottom and
flat perpendicular sides, about six feet
wide by thirty or thirty-five feet long.
They are of about ten tons burden,
and are very strongly built of sal wood
planks an inch and a half thick. As
the lake is of nearly uniform depth
throughout and has seldom more than
two fathoms of water, it is everywhere
possible to pole these boats. A stout
plank runs along each gunwale, and
three or even four men pole on each
side, sending the heavy craft at a fair-
pace through the water. But when the
wind is aft two great bamboos are
reared, one on each side of the boat,
between which is stretched a rude mat,
strengthened by cross-pieces, and under
192 GANJAM.
this primitive arrangement the voyage
continues and the polers take their
ease.
The stern of the boat has a deck of
split bamboo laths, and is covered by a
tilt awning of matwork. With a mat-
tress spread on the laths under the
awning it is possible to traverse the
lake in all directions and examine its
beautiful coves at one's ease, surprising
a peafowl here and there, or getting a
shot at a basking alligator. For wild
duck shooting a canoe is a better craft.
CHAPTER XI.
RHUMBA.
NEAR the town of Rhumba, on a park-
like slope which rises gently from the
southern shore of the lake, stands a
large two-storied house, built at the
beginning of this century by a Mr.
S , who was then collector of
Ganjam. It is well and strongly built
of hewn stone, with extensive offices,
and stabling for twenty-four horses,
besides elephant stalls; the floors were
originally of grey marble, and the fit-
193
194 GANJAM.
tiugs of the interior were as perfect as
the best workmen specially summoned
from Calcutta could make them. Here
ji
Mr. S passed his days in great
luxury, with his house always full of
guests, his stable full of horses, and his
yacht on the lake. His district estab-
lishment was located at Ganjam, nine
miles off, and his head official appeared
only once a week for the transaction of
business.
Yery little revenue from Gran jam
found its way to the seat of Govern-
ment in those days, and very evil
reports of Mr. S 's administration
reached Madras. Reproofs and warn-
ings came at last in quick succession,
with urgent orders for the submission
of his long- delayed accounts. Then
RHUMB A. 195
Mr. S loaded his yacht with the dis-
trict accounts, ran her on a rock, and
reported to his Government the lament-
able accident which had deposited the
district accounts at the bottom of the
lake while he was crossing it for pur-
poses of business.
It was resolved to make an example
of Mr. S ; he was dismissed from
his post, and desired to give over the
charge of the district and treasury
to an officer, who was appointed to
succeed him, and was charged to make
full report of what had passed. But
the land journey from Madras was seven
hundred miles, and the only mode of tra-
velling was by palanquin and bearers, so
that three weeks were required to bring
Mr. S 's successor to the spot ;
196 GANJAM.
and though in due course he appeared
and claimed to be put in charge, the
man in possession calmly ignored him,
and he was obliged to report that he
had failed to assert his authority. At
last means were found to coerce Mr.
S and lay bare his evil deeds ;
it then appeared that he had largely
misappropriated public money, and in
particular that he had built his house at
Rhumba with the funds allotted for the
employment of starving people during a
famine.
The Court of Directors dismissed him
from their service, refused him his
pension, and caused the Rhumba house
to be sold by public auction. There were
no bidders, and a Madras firm owning
the Aska sugar works bought for £150
RHUMBA. 197
a property on which. £20,000 had been
laid out.
Such is the history of the large and
well-planned house which still stands in
a beautiful site on the green margin of
the Chilka and looks out on the varied
beauty of its shores. It is now the
property of my friend Mr. Minchin,
into whose hands the Aska factory has
passed, and who keeps it in good repair.
The sequel to Mr. S 's history is,
that after hanging about the India Office
in rags for a long time, he obtained
the restoration of his pension, drove
down with four horses next day to
return thanks to the Court, and was
soon afterwards run over by a hackney
coach and killed.
The firm into whose possession the
198 GANJAM.
house at Rhumba had passed very liber-
ally permitted the district officers and
even travellers to make use of it; and
whenever there was work to be done in
that neighbourhood, or the offices were
closed during holidays, a visit to the
Chilka Lake was a favourite resource.
The grounds round the house in-
cluded about a hundred acres, much
overgrown with underwood, and here a
few spotted deer sometimes harboured.
At night bears often passed near the
house, and probably other wild crea-
tures also.
One morning, while we were at
Rhumba, the wing of a regiment on
the march arrived, and the four officers
who accompanied it became our guests
for that and the following day. It was
RHUMB A. 199
very hot weather, and the camp cots of
our visitors were ranged along the open
veranda at the back of the house on the
ground floor, a few steps descended
from this veranda into the open air, so
that it was perfectly accessible from
outside.
I was restless that night, and soon
after midnight got up and walked about
the veranda above where my guests
were sleeping. As I looked out into
the moonlight I presently perceived two
bears moving among the bushes and
slowly approaching the house, foraging
in the dry grass as they came for white
ants and beetles. My gun was at hand ;
should I use it, or try and rouse the
sleepers noiselessly for a shot ? but I
despaired of doing this without scaring
200 GANJAM.
the bears, and again, if I wounded a
bear they might start up and run the
risk of being attacked. So I called my
wife, and for ten minutes we watched
the bears as they sauntered to and fro
snuffling and scratching the ground,
until they slowly passed out of sight
unharmed and harming no one.
Next day I took our visitors across a
part of the lake to Deer Island, which
is about three or four miles from the
house. "We beat the covert, and were
fortunate enough to make the deer
break on to the open margin, and to get
one of them.
Riding out through the jungle one
morning during a subsequent visit to
Ehumba, I came suddenly upon a sight
which greatly surprised and interested
RHUMBA. 201
me : seven or eight little conical gipsy
tents were pitched in an open glade,
constituting evidently only a temporary
encampment. In front of each hut
stood tethered and picketed like a
horse, a black buck antelope. I stopped
and inquired from my gipsy friends
what this meant, and what manner of
men they were. " We are stone-cutters
by profession," they said, " and snarers
of all kinds of game ; and these antelopes
are not as the sahib supposes, either
pets or intended to be killed and eaten ;
we use them in capturing other ante-
lope, and we will show the sahib how it
is done if he likes."
It is scarcely necessary to say that I
caught at the offer, and arranged to
have a large boat ready next morning to
202 GANJAM.
convey two of the bucks and some of
the men across the lake to the sandy
plain near the sea, where antelope
abounded. The antelopes and their
owners were accordingly shipped next
morning, and we made our way across
the lake. I noticed that with the bucks
was brought on board a supply of the
flower buds of the white Asclepias
gigantea, which have very stimulating
properties, and are sometimes given in
attacks of cholera. The bucks from
time to time had a handful of the buds
given them, which they ate greedily.
The gipsies also brought with them a
quantity of very tough but fine cord,
intended for the fighting harness of the
antelopes.
The approach from the lake to the
RHUMBA. 203
sandy plain, which separates it from the
sea, is through a labyrinth of little
channels, winding between green mounds.
The prevailing southerly and south-
westerly winds are for ever intruding
sandy banks and hillocks into the
Chilka, and these soon become grass-
covered and fixed.
Under cover of these banks and
mounds, we landed within a quarter of
a mile of a large herd of antelope, and
one of our champions was forthwith
accoutred for the coming encounter.
Running nooses of cord hung from the
base of the horns, and others over the
shoulders, and then the ends of the cord
were brought farther back and wound
round the buck at the girth. He was
then set free, and at once trotted gently
204 GANJAM.
towards the herd. As he drew near,
the antelopes ceased feeding and raised
their heads to observe him, and he
then continued his approach at a
walk, with his head up, and his nos-
trils curled back after the manner of
his kind.
The leading buck of the herd at once
advanced to meet the intruder, and the
two proceeded to move warily on, not
facing each other, but following con-
verging lines, which brought them at
last within ten paces. Then with a
sudden and simultaneous impulse they
turned and dashed at each other. For
some seconds there was a great clashing
of horns as they butted and thrust and
parried; but presently both drew back
by common consent to take breath for
RHUMBA. 205
a fresh charge. At the second en-
counter, and almost as soon as they
met, the wild buck got one of his horns
caught in the noose, and taking alarm,
instantly struggled to escape. His
captor simply hung back, allowing him-
self to be dragged slowly on, while two
of his human allies, running up at head-
long speed, seized the ensnared buck,
threw him down, and lashing one horn
to his haunch, shouldered him, and
brought him back in triumph.
If I recollect right, my gipsy friends
told me that bucks captured full grown
could be easily trained to assist in this
way in snaring their fellows. This is
not quite so strange as it may appear.
The antelope is easily tamed, and be-
comes very familiar and fond of his
2o6 GANJAM.
master, and his combative propensities
are strong enough to make it certain
that when he is brought near a wild
herd he will presently be engaged with
one of the bucks ; all the rest is simply
mechanical. He naturally resists being
dragged away by his entangled adver-
sary, and so delivers him into the hands
of his captors.
About a hundred yards behind the
house at Rhumba, I had noted not far
from the approach a landrail's nest of
four eggs, a nest only by courtesy, as
the rail lays her eggs on the bare
ground in the open, caring only that the
colouring of the soil shall match the
dusky reddish-brown of the eggs. But
other eyes besides mine had noted the
landrail's treasure. I was attracted to
RHUMBA. 207
the window one day by a great clamour
among the landrails, and saw that about
a dozen of them were in close attend-
ance upon a large cobra, which was
moving slowly straight towards the
eggs (a delicacy of which snakes are
fond). The rails tried all they knew to
stop the cobra or draw him away from
the nest. They swooped one after
another at his head, almost striking him
with their wings, while three or four of
them alighted and danced in front of
him with outspread wings like children
holding out their skirts in a quadrille.
The cobra now and then raised his
crested head and made a show of strik-
ing at one or another, but not in the
least did he deviate from his course.
At last as he was nearing the nest, I
208 GANJAM.
ran out with a gun and put an end to
him and his proceedings.
The next day a fresh clamour drew
my attention to the landrail's nest ; this
time a number of the birds were wheel-
ing round the head of a little grey
fox who was approaching the spot.
He too was going straight for his point,
though why, if he knew of the position
of the eggs, he had not already eaten
them I do not understand, unless the
same spot is chosen year after year
by the same birds.
Of course the fox took no heed of
the remonstrances which assailed him,
and I had again to interfere and drive
off the enemy, though I did not like
to shoot him. Perhaps if I had done
so the eggs might have been hatched,
RHUMBA. 209
but they disappeared in the course of
the following day. It is worthy of note
that the whole of the flock of landrails
interested themselves as much as the
parent birds in protecting the eggs.
Coasting along the shores of the
lake one afternoon I surprised and
killed a large alligator ; and, as he was
rather a fine specimen, he was tied
behind the boat and towed home in
order that his head might be preserved.
When the alligator was opened a great
number of wild duck were found in
his inside, feathers and all, just as he
had swallowed them. I was rather
surprised at first that an alligator
should have been able to seize duck ;
but he would only have to swim
quietly along six inches or so below
p
210 CAN JAM.
the surface and pull the bird under
by the legs without showing himself
or alarming the rest of the flock.
I close here my brief notice of the
Chilka Lake. It is the largest example
of the effect of forces which are in
operation all along the Coromandel
coast. There is not to be found a
single stretch of shingle beach between
Cape Comorin and the mouth of the
Hoogly; the coast line is everywhere
sandy and flat, and the prevailing set
of the sea during many months of the
year piles the sand along it to a uni-
form height, forming a barrier through
which the rivers cut their way only
so long as they maintain a current of
sufficient volume to sweep away the
sand thrown up by the surf. When
RHUMB A. 211
the flow in the river-bed is insignificant
the bar is closed by a sandy beach,
and backwaters are formed parallel to
the shore wherever the level of the
adjacent land invites the overflow of
river water. There are consequently
many lagoons of varying size along
the twelve hundred miles of coast
between Pooree and Cape Comorin, all
owing their existence to the same
causes which, favoured by exceptional
conditions in Granjam, have pent up in
the depression between the hills and
the sea-shore the beautiful lake which
from the shape of its outline has
received the name of the Chilka or
Parrot.
It has often been proposed to utilize
these backwaters by uniting them so
212 GANJAM.
as to form a canal, and a beginning
has actually been made ; but before an
uninterrupted inland water-way can be
perfected along the entire coast, means
must be found to carry the canal across
the river - beds, which during many
months interpose at intervals a stretch
of dry sand. A canal now unites the
Chilka Lake with the mouth of the
Ganjam River. It was dug as a famine-
relief work during the last year of my
administration in Ganjam, in 1867, and
if means could be found to contrive
a water-way across the river during
the dry season it could easily be con-
tinued through an intermediate back-
water to Gopulpore, a port of call for
the steamers of the British India Steam
Navigation Company.
CHAPTER XII.
CHETTERPUR.
THE head-quarter station of the district
was moved many years ago from the
town of Ganjam to a breezy upland four
miles off, called Chetterpur. A fever of
a particularly malignant character had
shown itself for two or three years in
succession in the once thriving and
populous town of Ganjam, and it had
become almost depopulated by death
and desertion.
The fever has long since disappeared,
and the place no longer retains any
213
214 GANJAM.
traces of its time of calamity except in
the locality occupied by the fort and the
houses of the European officers. This
was a pretty green sward with the fort
on its seaward face, and several large
and well-built houses grouped round it;
only two of these remain, surviving
in that state of long-protracted decay
which is often the lot of the strongest
constitutions and the most solid build-
ings. The fort is sharing the same
fate.
Meanwhile, Chetterpur has taken the
place of Ganjam as the head-quarters of
the Revenue and Magisterial establish-
ments, and the courts of justice have
been located at Berhampur, the mili-
tary cantonment twelve miles off. The
country between these places is disposed
CHETTERPUR. 215
in great undulating plains, wild and little
cultivated, and on the rise of the last
of these undulations stands the house of
Chetterpur, facing the sea at a distance
of three or four miles. A miniature lake,
half a mile wide, and extending three
miles northward to the Ganjam River,
lies at the foot of the slope, and beyond it
a plain of sand two miles wide stretches
to the sea beach. A sheet of water of
this size is called in Ganjam a " tum-
pra." The one at Chetterpur is one of
those lagoons of which I have spoken,
formed by the accumulations of sand
which close the mouths of the rivers and
also hold back the surface drainage from
the sea. Wild duck and teal seldom
resorted to this tumpra, but I have shot
pelican there, and often seen the osprey
216 GANJAM.
and the fish-hawk at work. Jackals and
hyaenas occasionally lurked among the
pandanus thickets on the shore, and the
little lake had a sullen, dreary aspect,
quite in keeping with such company.
Behind the house lay the cultivated
fields of the village, screened by dense
pandanus hedges from the southerly
winds, which were quite capable of
carrying away the surface soil bodily in
dry weather had ifc not been for this
protection. Still farther to the rear
were many miles of rolling plains, partly
sand strewn, partly covered with scrub ;
here there was excellent fox coursing,
and here I once or twice met and tried
to run down wolves, but without success,
as greyhounds very wisely shrink from
closing with so formidable a beast.
CHETTERPUR. 217
A shikari one day brought in from
these plains the skins of a pair of these
animals, both of which he had shot while
they were dragging off a calf. He killed
one wolf, and found that its companion,
instead of running away, continued its
attack upon the calf, so that he had time
to load again and shoot it also.
From the same wild plains a shepherd
brought me a large python which had
seized a kid, and which he had killed
with a heavy quarter staff, beating it
down when it reared itself up at him,
and breaking the spine, much as we had
killed the python at Belikeri in Canara.
Snakes of many other kinds abounded
at Chetterpur, and were frequently killed
in or about the house. A snake of some
size escaped from under my wife's chair
218 GANJAM.
as we were sitting down to dinner one
evening, and another dropped almost
upon her from the top of a door.
I met a large cobra in the grounds
at dusk one evening, which, instead of
avoiding me as I expected, made a rush
at my feet, and when I sprang to one
side again made a similar demonstration.
I was so surprised at this unusual con-
duct that I at first made no attack on
the creature ; but when I saw it begin to
lower itself into the opening of a white
ants' nest, from which it had driven me,
I understood the reason of its move-
ments, and as soon as its head was
underground I struck it heavily across
the body and killed it ; had the evening
been a little darker I should certainly
have been bitten.
CHETTERPUR. 219
In some parts of Ganjam a great deal
of sugar-cane is grown, and as there are
many rocky hills which afford comfort-
able homes for the bears which abound
in the district, circumstances greatly
favour these creatures in the gratifica-
tion of their love of sugar. If they
once get through the fence which pro-
tects a plot of cane, they can rob and
then retire with impunity before daylight
to dens, out of which it is often impos-
sible to force them. I have heard of as
many as twenty-five bears being seen by
one observer in the course of a moon-
light night among the cane gardens. A
friend of mine once wounded a bear in
that neighbourhood and followed it to
its den under the rocks. Many unsuc-
cessful attempts were made to dislodge
220 GANJAM.
the bear, but at last it occurred to some
one to make a lay figure and lower it
from the rocks above into the very mouth
of the den ; there by means of a rope
round its waist the dummy was made
to dance in so irritating a manner that
the bear rushed out at it and was shot.
Near the village of Chetterpur, where
there was no other inducement to attract
bears than a cluster of rocky hills con-
taining some convenient holes and caves
usually tenanted by porcupines, a bear
would occasionally take up his quarters,
but he was sure to be observed and re-
ported by the women who visited a well
near the hill, and equally sure to be shot.
During my stay at Chetterpur I killed
two bears in this way, within a mile of
the village.
CHETTERPUR. 221
Bears are often wounded and killed
without making any show of resistance,
but they sometimes prove very danger-
ous assailants, as the following example
shows : Travelling one moonlight night
in a palanquin between Aska and Ber-
hampur, Mr. Minchin was roused by his
bearers, who pointed out to him a bear
among the bushes near the road ; he had
with him a single-barrelled rifle, with
which he wounded the bear; it then
disappeared over the raised bank of a
tank close by, and Mr. Minchin loading
again, approached the bank in hopes of
another shot. Just as he mounted the
bank the bear met him from the opposite
side, and, rising on its hind legs, struck
its claws with great force into his left
breast just over the heart, knocking him
222 GANJAM.
backwards, after which, scared by the
bearers, it made its escape. When the
wound was examined the doctor declared
that only the full development of the
chest muscles had kept the claws from
penetrating to the heart through the
thin folds of the sleeping jacket.
But I myself shot, in some hills about
five miles from Chetterpur, a bear which,
with ample opportunity for mischief,
showed abject cowardice.
In order to reduce the number of
these beasts I one evening had a tent
pitched near the hills, and went there
with two companions to dine and sleep
in order that before daylight we might
get between the bears and their retreats,
and intercept them as they left the gar-
dens. We only fell in with one bear,
CHETTERPUR. 223
which succeeded in reaching the hills
without giving us a shot. We followed
it to its den, but finding there was no
chance of dislodging it, we turned
towards the tents. Just then one of
my peons pointed to a lofty and precipi-
tous pinnacle, five hundred feet above
us ; there stood a bear motionless as a
statue and watching our movements in
front of the den. It was agreed that
while the rest of the party watched the
precipitous front of the rock I should
climb up the back of the cone by an
access which a sturdy villager offered to
point out. It proved a difficult climb,
and on reaching the top, which was per-
fectly flat, I found it completely covered,
to a depth of three feet, by a network
of the vine-like branches of some wild
224 GANJAM.
creeper, so tough and thick as to sup-
port my weight securely as I mounted
the mass. In front of me on the other
side of the rock, still in the same atti-
tude, and still watching my comrades
near the den, stood the bear about
twenty paces off and with his back
towards me. He still remained motion-
less and regardless of my presence, so I
planted either foot securely on a sturdy
branch and then whistled to attract his
attention and get a side shot if possible.
The bear simply looked over his shoulder
at me, and then without stirring a foot
resumed his watch. I brought matters
to a crisis presently by sending a bullet
through his loins ; he uttered one wild
yell and, instead of turning upon me,
rushed forward and fell headlong over
CHEJTERPUR. 225
the precipice, at the foot of which we
picked him up quite dead.
If the bear had charged me I feel
sure my guide would have stood by me
with his heavy staff. I could not have
moved rapidly from my position on the
branches of the creeper.
In the neighbourhood of Berhampur
and Chetterpur jackals were extremely
numerous, and instances of death from
hydrophobia, occasioned by the bite of a
mad jackal, several times occurred. One
night a rabid beast made its way into
the lines of the native regiment at Ber-
hampur and bit five persons as they
lay asleep in their open verandas. All
these people died, and such cases were
regarded as sure to be fatal.
I was therefore much alarmed when
Q
226 GANJAM.
my head servant awoke me one night
and announced that three of the stable
men and a valuable dog had been bitten
by a mad jackal ; he said he had heard
of a Brahmin living in Granjam who had
treated many such cases successfully,
and a messenger was sent in hot haste
to summon him.
Excision or cautery of the bites
seemed to me impossible owing to the
position of the wounds. The first man
attacked was seized by the great toe
as he lay asleep in his hut, the jackal
then rushed into the next hut where a
horse-keeper, roused by the outcry, was
just sitting up, and bit him in the upper
part of the nose ; from this hut the
beast crossed the field to a cattle pen,
but failed to get inside ; returning, it
CHETTERPUR 227
ran into my stables and bit a poligar
hound, and then seized a stable man by
the tendons of the instep. At last one
of the men threw a horse cloth over it,
and it was beaten to death.
I shot the poor poligar dog in the
morning, to avoid further risks; but
when the Brahmin arrived with his re-
medy, he assured me that he could have
saved the dog, as he would assuredly
save the men, from hydrophobia.
The remedy, which he administered
internally, betrayed itself both by its
smell and its operation, and proved to
consist mainly of the leaves of the da-
tura, or stramonium plant, made into a
pulp. The patients were warned to ex-
pect an attack of delirium and stupor,
and were to eat nothing for twenty-four
228 GANJAM.
hours, when the effect of the medicine
would pass away. The symptoms which
the Brahmin led us to expect appeared
and passed off in due course ; they are
those always produced by stramonium,
and I have never entertained any doubt
that this was the remedy used, though
the Brahmin refused to make it known.
Neither do I doubt that the jackal was
mad, for these creatures never make
such attacks under any other circum-
stances. Certain it is that none of the
three men bitten had an attack of
hydrophobia.
Datura seeds were formerly used by
thieves in Tanjore in order to drug the
food of travellers and rob them while
insensible. A thief of this class would
watch a traveller sit down to his bowl
CHETTERPUR. 229
of rice, at one of the endowed chut-
trums where a meal is provided for
strangers, and sauntering up would sit
down and engage him in friendly con-
versation, watching his opportunity to
flick a few datura seeds, unobserved,
among the rice, with which they were
probably swallowed either unnoticed or
passing for grains of the small pulse
often sprinkled over curry and rice.
Next day the traveller would recover
from the effects of the stramonium to
find that he had lost everything.
I sent an account of the episode of
the jackal and the remedy used to The
Times, but it was not inserted. I also
wrote to an eminent London surgeon,
detailing the facts of the case, but he
replied that there was no proof the
230 CAN/AM.
jackal was mad! I believe, however,
that the claims of stramonium as a
prophylactic to hydrophobia are not un-
known to the profession, though it does
not seem that any great confidence is
placed in it. The case I have described
ought to procure for it further attention
and experiment. The Brahmin who
treated my servants assured me that his
remedy is efficacious even after hydro-
phobia has set in.
CHAPTER XIII.
MAHENDRA.
MAHENDRA GIRT, which means " Great
India's Mountain," is entitled to special
description, for on its summit, far from
human abodes, and in positions difficult
of access, are temples and carvings, the
work of unknown hands at some un-
known period. The Ooriyahs of the
three ancient zemindaries which lie
round the base of the mountain admit
their ignorance on the subject ; and
though on one festal day in the year
231
232 GANJAM.
the mountain is visited, in virtue of
some undefined title to reverence, no
sect claims a right to its temples, nor
is any act of worship performed in
them.
The only legend I have heard which
speaks of the sojourn of men in this
solitude is derived, I believe, from the
Mahabharata, and says that the Pan-
dava brothers, returning to Hastinapur
from the south, were driven by their
enemies to take refuge on this mountain
for two years. Certain it is, however,
that the ridge which forms the summit
where the temples stand, rugged and
narrow, and rising to a height of nearly
five thousand feet, surrounded by for-
ests and remote from any cultivated
lands, would be a very untenable posi-
MAHENDRA. 233
tion for any body of men during a long
period.
Yet on the very crest of the ridge, in
a position where there is scarcely room
to pitch a small tent, stands a shrine
measuring about twelve feet square at
its base, and about eighteen feet high,
composed of fourteen blocks of hewn
stone of cyclopean dimensions. There
are three courses of four stones each ;
the lower blocks are about nine feet long
and three feet cube, while the stones in
the second and third courses diminish
in length so as to contract the inner
space as the building rises, and admit
of it being closed at the top by a block
of stone eight feet square by three feet
thick, on the summit of which is
placed a well-carved circular crown of
234 GANJAM.
about four feet in diameter. The blocks
have been so adjusted as to give the
sides the slight curve observable in the
temples of Orissa, and borrowed, as I
think, from the outline of the pine-
apple.
How were these huge blocks handled
and placed with nicety and precision in
their places, on a narrow space rough
with rocks ? The task would be diffi-
cult and tedious even on level ground,
and without the aid of mechanical appli-
ances a multitude of men would be re-
quired. For these there is not standing
room, and it is not strange that under
such puzzling conditions the natives
account for the building as the work
of superhuman agents.
On the lower slopes of the ridge are
MAHENDRA. 235
two other temples of rather larger size,
but of the type of outline already indi-
cated. They are built of small, finely
carved stones fitted together without
cement. There was formerly a fourth
temple, but it has fallen into ruin. Not
far off are a number of small semicir-
cular grottos, built of rough flat stones
piled so as to converge and form a
dome like an oyster grotto ; probably
these dens afforded shelter to the work-
men. In the wood hard by there is a
spring of water capable of yielding an
unfailing supply for their wants ; it is
the source of a stream which on its way
to the plain falls over a precipice of
some height.
Scattered about the hill-side lie blocks
of stone, some of them partially hewn
236 GANJAM.
and some with tracings of bulls and
other animals cut on them but left
unfinished, suggesting work suddenly
interrupted. The only other traces of
human handiwork are two small spaces
inclosed by rough stone walls. They
are now occupied by stunted trees, al-
most the only ones which grow on the
upper ridge, which runs for three or four
miles from north to south ; the base of
the mountain extends over at least
twenty miles, and its slopes are for the
most part clothed with wood.
Such were the surroundings amongst
which a party of us emerged about noon
one day after an arduous climb of five
or six hours through the woods on the
eastern face of Mahendra.
Ever since it first became known to
MAHENDRA. 237
me that in the centre of G-anjam there
stood a mountain of ancient fame, the
highest in that part of India, which
had only once been ascended by an
English officer (Major Strange, of the
trigonometrical survey), I had made
up my mind to visit Mahendra and see
its ancient temples.
The Raja of Mundasa, one of the
Ooriyah zemindars, whose estates in-
cluded a portion of Mahendra, entered
into these plans with enthusiasm, as-
sisted materially in getting a tent and
supplies carried up, and declared his
intention of making his first ascent on
the same occasion. It was not hard to
assemble a few congenial spirits for
such an expedition, and after many
hours of toil, during which we scattered
238 GANJAM.
according to our respective physical
powers, we looked in triumph from the
summit across a thickly wooded country
on to the white line of surf that marks
the coast, and examined and wondered
over the ancient carvings which had sur-
vived their history so many centuries.
Although great men in India are little
used to physical exertion, the Raja of
Mundasa carried out his resolution with
great spirit; and when his litter broke
down, he completed the ascent on foot,
and bivouacked on the summit with his
followers. Near the top, two young
officers of our party overtook him,
seated on a rock to rest ; he made them
sit beside him for awhile, and such con-
versation ensued as is possible between
regimental Hindostani on the one part,
MAHENDRA. 239
and pure Ooriyah on the other. Observ-
ing the flushed cheeks and bedewed
brows of his companions, the Raja
courteously handed to them the pink
check handkerchief to which he had
himself been beholden. Put to the proof
thus suddenly, they dealt with the
kindly meant offer, gratefully of course,
but differently, according to the presence
of mind they respectively possessed,
which in one case was great, and in the
other very small !
That night several heavy showers fell,
and, though we were sheltered from the
rain, its effects reached us in an odd
way. "We had pitched the tent on a
rocky slope, quite at the bottom of the
upper ridge; and though no water en-
tered from outside, there rose from a
240 GANJAM.
fissure in the rocky floor of the tent
a jet of water six inches high, which
obliged us to roll up our mattresses and
shift as we could till daylight enabled
us to move to a better site. Evidently
some natural reservoir on the upper
part of the ridge communicated with
the rocky site we had chosen for the
tent, and illustrated, much to our dis-
comfort, the principle of the artesian
well.
The zemindars and their people were
much gratified by the appreciation
shown for Mahendra, and great baskets
of mandarin oranges and gallons of rich
buffalo milk were brought up from all
sides for our acceptance. The hamlets
of the Sourah vassals of the neighbour-
ing zemindars are built on the lowest
MAHENDRA. 241
slopes of the hill, and they herd their
buffaloes wherever the coarse grass
which these animals love is to be found;
we saw their traces even on the lofty-
slope where our tent was pitched.
The hills inhabited by the independent
Sourahs rise full in view on the western
side of Mahendra Griri to a height not
far short of it. A very deep valley,
which these people do not cross, sepa-
rates them from the vassal Sourahs of
Mundasa.
This visit to Mahendra Griri was fol-
lowed at intervals by other expeditions,
and in due time a substantial little
cottage was built, at the cost of much
toil and some failures, near one of the
temples. It is now the property of the
Mundasa Raja, who is careful to keep it
242 , GANJAM.
in repair, and generously allows it to be
occupied by such visitors as are induced
to face the toil of the ascent, either
by curiosity or in order to enjoy the
delicious mountain climate. A letter
written from the cottage by my old
friend Mr. Minchin, who was one of
our party on the occasion of the first
ascent, reached me not long ago, and
recalled its pleasant memories.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS.
HAD not the attention of the Govern-
ment of India been drawn to the Khond
highlands by the custom prevalent
among the race of offering human vic-
tims to an imaginary being, known in
their superstition as the Earth Goddess,
the Khonds would probably have re-
mained unnoticed and unvisited to this
day. In seasons of drought it is their
custom to propitiate the Earth Goddess
by a sacrifice, and to restore fertility to
the fields by burying here and there
morsels of the flesh of the victim. A
243
244 GANJAM.
human sacrifice is held to be the most
acceptable, but failing that a buffalo
may be offered. The rite is known as
the " Meria."
The Khonds never devoted a member
of their own race to the " Meria " ; the
victims were kidnapped in childhood
from the plains and sold to the Khonds
by wretches of the lowest caste, who
made this their trade. But the captives
were not sacrificed then and there, nor
were they made aware of their destiny ;
every indulgence available to the com-
munity was lavished upon them, and
they were regarded as set apart for a
sacred purpose. When the time came
for a sacrifice, they were half stupefied
with liquor and drugs, and taken to the
appointed place in solemn procession,
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 245
decorated with flowers. A heavy blow
on the head from the club of the priest
then put an end to the life of the victim,
and the flesh cut into small pieces was
distributed among the spectators, in
order to be buried in their fields.
The disappearance of children from
the villages in the plains was at last
traced to professional kidnappers, and
further inquiry brought to light the
nature and object of their trade. The
discovery was mainly due to Captain
Macpherson, who has detailed in his
published work on the subject many
interesting particulars connected with
the Khonds. He was charged by the
supreme Government with the earliest
operations directed towards the extinc-
tion of the practice of human sacrifice,
246 GANJAM.
and moving into the hills with a sepoy
force rescued victims destined for the
Meria from many Khond villages. But
the Khonds collected in great numbers,
and surrounding his force compelled
him to give back the rescued victims.
After this unfortunate occurrence the
Government organized a special agency
for the accomplishment of their pur-
pose. An irregular force of two or
three hundred men was levied among
the Ooriyah population, men inured
to forest life and acquainted with the
Khonds and their ways ; they were
suitably armed and equipped under
intelligent native officers of their own
class, and placed under the command
of Colonel Campbell, assisted by his
subordinate officer, Captain MacNeil.
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 247
Colonel Campbell was vested with
special powers for dealing with the
crime of human sacrifice, and furnished
with an establishment of elephants
and tents which enabled him to traverse
every part of the Khond Mils and to
pass some months of every year in
this way, visiting the strongholds of
the superstition, rescuing intended vic-
tims, dispersing assemblages met for
the purpose of human sacrifice, and
endeavouring to engage the Khonds
everywhere to substitute buffaloes for
human victims. Steps were at the
same time taken for putting an end
to kidnapping, and so cutting off the
supply of victims.
The special agency under Colonel
Campbell, and subsequently under Cap-
248 GANJAM.
tain MacNeil, who succeeded him,
persevered for many years in the
systematic efforts I have described to
stamp out the practice of human sacri-
fice. And at the time of my arrival
in G-anjam it was considered that this
object had been attained, and the
sacrifice of a buffalo everywhere sub-
stituted for that of a human being.
The persons rescued from time to
time had now reached a considerable
number, all dependent on the Govern-
ment for the means of support. It was
resolved to try and form an agricultural
community of them ; they were provided
with lands, seed, cattle, and implements,
and located in a village erected for
them by the Government. It was hoped
that the " Merias," as they had come
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 249
to be called, would thus be able to
support themselves ; but the experiment
was not a success. The little community
consisted of persons bred up in idleness
and trained to be helpless, and they
continued helpless and dependent, their
agriculture did not prosper, and they
were never able to pay the trifling
assessment which in the hope of stimu-
lating their industry had been imposed
upon their fields.
The special agency by the time its
functions terminated had acquired much
useful information, and had become
intimately acquainted with the country
inhabited by the Khonds, extending
from the Mahanuddi on its northern
border to the hills of the independent
Sourahs behind Mahendra, and from
250 GANJAM.
the confines of Nagpore and Bustar
in the west, to the line of ghauts
overlooking the ancient Zemindaries
of G-oomsur and Soonda in G-anjam,
which marked its eastern limits.
The officers of the trigonometrical
survey had also explored this region,
and added the record of its hills,
valleys, and rivers to their admirable
collection of maps. As the eastern
face of the plateau is the highest part
of the country, the rivers instead of
flowing seaward follow a westerly
course for some distance, and in the
middle of the plateau sweep round,
some to the north to join the Maha-
nuddi, and others to the south, falling
into the river which debouches at
Calingapatan,
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 251
The consequence of this formation
is that the saucer-shaped valleys into
which much of the country is divided
are abundantly supplied with water,
and rice is grown on their lower slopes
without the aid of artificial sources
of irrigation. The Khonds terrace
these rice grounds with great care and
skill, maintaining a perfectly horizontal
surface. Their ploughing cattle are
in part procured by barter from the
low country, and partly of their own
breeding.
A Khond got up for a journey to
the G-oomsur bazaars is a somewhat
comical sight. His thick black hair
is brought forward and rolled into a
chignon on his forehead, and in it are
sure to be sticking two or three half-
252 GANJAM.
smoked cheroots, his dusky skin shines
with recent lubrication, and the white
cloth folded round his waist is so dis-
posed that its ends fall behind him like
the tail of an ox. Across his shoulder is
a lath of bamboo, at each end of which
is a round bundle about the size of
a man's head ; this is his turmeric, which
is neatly packed in leaves, and which
he will barter in the bazaar for shin-
ing brass, ware, or cloth, or perhaps
he will be seen on his return slowly
urging up the ghaut some feeble, half-
starved cow or bullock, which after
a few months of the abundant fodder
of the jungles will become sleek and
fat. The picture, however, is incom-
plete without mention of the tungi
and bow, both of which the Khond
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 253
carries in his right hand, together with
three or four arrows, headed with blades
like dessert knives. This very trucu-
lent display, however, is only assumed
on the principle " si velis pacem, para
bellum." Probably his long-handled
tungi has only been used to cut off the
head of a goat, and his arrows are
innocent of the taste of human blood.
The Khond feuds are conducted in
keeping with this preference for the
aspect of war over its stern realities.
The race has become subdivided into
septs and rival communities ; something
leads to a quarrel between two of
them, and perhaps a life is taken,
probably at a drinking bout, for the
Khonds drink a great deal of " toddy,"
drawn from the sago palm, and distil
254 GANJAM.
a strong spirit from the flower of the
mohwa tree ; sometimes a whole village
is drunk for days together. However,
when once a man has been killed,
his tribe feel bound to take a life
in return, and at a convenient season
a challenge is sent. A Khond herald
mounts a hill overlooking the rival
village, sounds a point of war on his
horn, and shouts the challenge, naming
time and place ; usually a valley is
selected on the sloping sides of which
there are rocks and bushes affording
convenient cover to both parties (they
do not wish to see too much of each
other). On the day of battle the
opposing armies take up each its posi-
tion (under cover), those who can
afford it wear a sort of pinafore of
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 255
thick buffalo hide, almost proof against
an arrow, and some fix a pair of bison's
horns on their heads, terroris causa.
On a sudden one party starts up and
sends a flight of arrows across the
valley, dropping under cover again at
once. The enemy replies with a similar
discharge. "When no results follow upon
prolonged fighting of this sort, a few
braves on either side caper down into
the bottom of the valley and a skir-
mish ensues which ought to lead to
slaughter, but somehow this, too, often
ends harmlessly, and so the war goes
on for perhaps three weeks, until by
some fortunate accident somebody is
hit, and either the tribal honour is
satisfied or a fresh score is incurred,
to be settled on the next occasion.
256 GANJAM.
After I took charge of the agency,
intervention in these quarrels, and the
suppression of female infanticide, which
was still practised in some of the Khond
communities, became the chief objects in
view. The irregulars who had served
under the former special agent were, for
the most part, absorbed into the con-
stabulary, which was at that time about
being organized by the present Sir W.
Robinson, then Inspector - General of
Police ; they retained their fire-arms,
and bodies of them accompanied me
when I visited the hills, under the com-
mand of an officer (Captain, now Major
Lys) admirably qualified by temper and
judgment for the duty of dealing with
savages.
We located a few police-stations here
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 257
and there among the Khonds, with an
organized system of patrol, and cases of
the exposure of female infants were
occasionally brought to light and pun-
ished with imprisonment or transpor-
tation. I found, however, that nothing
but a severe and signal example would
put an end to this practice, and on the
occurrence of a flagrant case of immo-
lation the perpetrator was hanged at the
scene of the crime, after which cases
ceased to be reported.
I was absent from Ganjam during the
year 1865, and on my return, in Janu-
ary, 1866, the first news which met me
as the steamer anchored was, " There is
a ' row ' in the Khond Hills, and a threat-
ening of famine in Ganjam."
Both items of this unpleasant an-
258 GANJAM.
nouncement were verified, and on reach-
ing Ganjam I found my locum tenens,
Mr. Thornhill, and the Inspector-General
of Police in Goomsur, on the borders
of the Khond Hills, with several junior
officers.
Mr. (now Sir W.) Robinson and
his lieutenants had just returned from
the upper country, where our police
had been in hostile collision with the
Kootiya Khonds, in the western part of
the country, a wilder and bolder tribe
than their kinsmen on the borders of
Goomsur. As our police posts were
advanced, and the enforcement of a
general control attempted, resentment
and resistance were naturally aroused,
and there followed encounters which did
not pass off without bloodshed. The
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 259
worst was over when I resumed charge,
but the very next day came news of
trouble nearer home.
There was to the south-west of
Soorada a cluster of hills and valleys
inhabited by some few hundred Khonds
who bore a bad character, as having
more debased habits than the rest of
the nation. They owned a nominal
allegiance to the Raja of Bodagudda,
whose estate bordered the wild and
rugged country they inhabited ; it was
separated from the Khond Hills on the
Goomsur and Soorada side by an in-
terval of some width, and which I find
described in my diary as a beautiful
level valley, with fine trees scattered
about it, and along which we rode for
twenty miles to the western corner of
2<5o GANJAM.
the triangular-shaped group of hills in-
habited by these Khonds.
Prom this point I intended to enter
their country and effect the capture of
the murderers of the headman of an
Ooriyah village on the Bodagudda bor-
der. This had been already attempted
by a body of police, but they had been
attacked by the Khonds and baffled.
The people of the two villages to which
the culprits belonged deserted their
villages and took to less accessible
refuges in their hills.
As most of our armed police were
absent in the country of the Kootiya
Khonds, I got together, with some
difficulty, a body of about seventy con-
stables, composed chiefly of men from
the posts in the low country, and armed
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 261
them with muskets. Two very efficient
assistants were with me, and we made
our way to a large village called Simli,
lying just within the Khond border, and
the people of which, being easily acces-
sible, and having had no share in the
disturbance, were on their good beha-
viour. Here we encamped ; at night
my enterprising lieutenants, Mr. Good-
riche and Captain Pickance, made an
attempt to surprise one of the retreats
to which the rebels had withdrawn, and
to which we had found a guide*
The expedition only led to the cap-
ture of two of the women and two
little children, a result which in the
sequel proved of far greater use to us
than we could have supposed. Mr.
Groodriche came back with a very
262 CAN/AM.
wicked looking arrow sticking in the
brim of his hat, but no other casualties
occurred.
The next day our operations were
wholly unlucky. I went out to visit
the deserted villages, and endeavoured
to find and communicate with some of
their inhabitants ; but one of my parties,
owing to a mistake, became embroiled,
with the Khonds, who, without showing
themselves, peppered them with their
formidable arrows. I had to go with
the rest of the men to extricate them,
and we brought back with us two men
severely wounded, my raw recruits hav-
ing expended much powder and ball on
rocks and trees, and greatly endangered
the lives of their comrades and our-
selves.
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 263
Degraded as these Khonds may be,
and repulsive as is their appearance, it
is to their credit that they have a great
regard and respect for their women.
I visited our captives as they sat
round their camp-fire in the morning,
and found them bearing captivity with
great philosophy ; they only asked for
tobacco and toddy in addition to their
food. The tiny urchins, sitting with their
toes in the warm ashes, had each a bit
of a cigar in his mouth, and took kindly
to the toddy, which we were assured
was their daily regimen.
Their capture weighed more heavily
on their relatives than on themselves,
for next day the Mazi, or headman, sent
me in a green bough and an arrow in
token of submission, and proposed to
264 GANJAM.
come in for a parley. Several men and
a few women appeared, the latter ugly
hags, unclothed to the waist, with un-
kempt hair, and each with a pipe dang-
ling from her mouth ; but in spite of
these personal drawbacks the ladies
put in a word every now and then, and
were listened to; and when the men
hesitated to give up the murderers in
exchange for the captives, the women
urged acceptance with one voice, and
carried their point. The murderers
were surrendered, and certain articles
of police equipment captured at the
first collision were also given up ; and
when we marched across the country
to Bodagudda the next day, our late
enemies shouldered our baggage and
carried it for us.
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 265
Before the conference closed how-
ever, an oath of renewed fealty to the
Bodagudda Raja was sworn. The Raja
had been afraid to accompany me, and
his headman represented him. A bit
of earth, a squirrel's skin, and a lizard
were placed upon a tiger skin, together
with a dagger, and the oath was pro-
nounced over these symbols.
I brought back with me on one of my
visits to the Khond Hills the seed pods
of a tree which I have not seen else-
where in India. It was about twenty
feet high, with thick foliage, and if I
remember right a rather small leaf; but
its remarkable feature was the seed pod,
which in some cases was between three
and four feet long, with a breadth of
four inches. Inside the pod were
266 GANJAM.
brown seeds like those of a horse chest-
nut, but larger and flatter. When the
pod is dry it forms a formidable natural
rattle, and when the wind sways the
pods as they hang the effect may be
imagined.
I sent my specimen to Kew Gardens,
and found it on my last visit in the
upper room of one of the museum
houses there.
The forests in the Khond country,
and at the base of the hills along the
G-anjam border, consist mainly of sal
trees. This is a very strong and dur-
able wood, little inferior in value to
teak. The trees rise straight and with-
out a branch to a height of forty or fifty
feet, after which the foliage spreads.
They yield an excellent resin, called
THE KHOND HIGHLANDS. 267
dammer, which is in general use
throughout India.
In 1866, as the year wore on, the
dark shadow of the Orissa famine
spread and deepened over the northern
half of Ganjarn, bringing with it many
a harrowing sight. Daring the greater
part of the year my assistants * and I
and the whole establishment were more
or less occupied with the conduct of the
various operations by which we en-
deavoured to combat the famine. Lord
Napier, then Governor of Madras,
visited the district, and gave his ready
* Messrs. Horsfall, Stewart, Goodriche, and
Grigg, four University men, who had lately
entered the Civil Service, were then assistants in
Ganjam, and gave me their zealous aid in all that
was done.
268 GANJAM.
sanction to every feasible scheme of
relief. The Ganjatn and Chilka canal
and other public works were under-
taken, the poorest classes were fed at
great relief houses, the weavers had a
special contract given them for tent
cloth for the commissariat, and the
ryots, who in their poverty still shrank
from attending the public food kitchens,
were relieved by other special arrange-
ments, and grants of seed grain were
made to them.
When, in the course of the following
year, my nine years' service in Ganjam
came to an end, and I had to leave
scenes and people for which I felt a
warm regard, the period of suffering
had ended, and prosperity had returned
to the district.
THE CRY OF THE LAND. 269
THE CKY OF THE LAND.
QH, come, from all the winds desired, beloved,
Besought of dying Hope, delay no more,
Nor spurn the cry of sore extremity ;
Delay no more !
Stoop low, ye dark-brow'd messengers of Heav'n,
Press your moist kiss upon the sleeping earth,
And wake the blessed fragrance of the field —
The spell-bound field.
Camber no more the fall contented sea,
Nor fleet so fickle to the distant hills,
Nor stand with voiceless lightening in the north :
Not so ! Not so !
'Tis ill to dally thus with our dismay,
To us ! to us ! Ours be the hollow eyes,
The hearts that ache with watching of your ways,
To us ! To us !
Ah ! linger not, for it is ill with us.
Our little children take our heart away ;
They kill us, these lean cheeks, these wasted
hands —
These wasted hands.
A 70 THE CRY OF THE LAND.
There is no sound of water in the land,
Upon the mere's dry bed the cattle die,
The voices fail from the deserted street ;
Shall all things fail ?
Higher than heav'n, hear Thou the desolate ;
Command Thy clouds that they do visit us,
And bid Thine earth bring forth that we may
live —
That we may live.
GANJAM, 1866.
NOTE. — Of the numerous orphans and deserted
children left homeless during the famine, some
were provided for in the Roman Catholic and
Baptist Mission orphanages. Many others found
an asylum in an orphanage instituted at Chetterpur
by the Rev. Warner Ottley, M.A., chaplain of
the district, entirely at his own. expense, in a
building purchased by him for the purpose.
Here the orphans were maintained and educated
till they grew up.
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