Chapter V: Part 5

I have pillows especially for my palanquin. I take a blanket and a few books, and then I can start in tolerable comfort for a four or five days' journey. There is a place outside behind for a large brass washhand-basin; in front there are two little windows, like those of a carriage, with glass and Venetian blinds; behind there is one window, and also a lamp with a glass in the back of the palanquin, so as to show its light inside.

Cuttack, November 8, 1843.

[Sidenote: ANECDOTES OF TIGERS.]

I have just been called out to see an enormous Bengal tiger which some native huntsmen shot last night. It has been long prowling about between Cuttack and Chogga, and has carried off many unfortunate men. A party of us intended to go out and look for him next week. He was wounded first by a shot in the shoulder; the second ball went through his eye and killed him at once. It was a magnificent beast.

On the 9th a large leopard was brought in, and also a wild boar. The latter animal is excessively savage and very dangerous. The usual mode of hunting is on horseback, armed with long lances or spears. His strength is very great; he is much larger and longer than the English pig. When enraged his back becomes as much curved as that of the hyæna; indeed, it is a good deal so at all times. From the top of the head to the tail extends a thick mane of bristles, not hanging down like a horse's mane, but standing perfectly upright. I have a young one now in a sty, but the men are obliged to throw his food to him, as he flies at them directly they go within reach. The tusks of the wild boar grow to several inches in length. A friend of mine was out one day when a boar charged his horse; the brute made a spring at its hinder parts, cutting right and left, and both the hind legs of the steed were severed to the bone, and his master was obliged to dismount and shoot him.

This reminds me of another anecdote. Miss D., the sister of the doctor at Balasore, was out riding a short time since; a gentleman of her acquaintance was with her. They were moving slowly along, when suddenly they heard a crackling of the branches by the roadside, and the next instant an enormous tiger sprang into the middle of the lane, just in front of them. The horses appeared paralysed; they could not move, but stood trembling in every joint. The tiger turned round, glared upon them, opened his mouth wide, and gave that horrible ya a-a-a, then made a spring, bounded into the jungle on the other side, and disappeared.

The tiger which they brought in the other day measured ten feet six inches in length, and one foot two inches round his ankle. This species possesses enormous strength; a single blow from his paw is sufficient to crush a man's skull into one frightful mass.

The adjutant of the 8th Bengal Native Regiment told me of a case which he had seen. A tiger seized a large English bullock, tossed it over his shoulders, and then sprang at one bound over a fence several feet in height: so you may easily imagine that a wild tiger is not a very pleasant companion.

We had a sad loss the night before last. I have already mentioned our beautiful little antelope, which used to come and lie at my feet while I was writing. The other night I heard him give a faint scream, and hastened to see what was the matter; he had been bitten by a cobra, and was dead in ten minutes. Poor little fellow! I could have cried,--my wife _did_. I have seen many, but never knew one so tame before. I doubt whether any of the servants had dry eyes as its body was thrown into the river. The bite of the cobra causes the body to swell to a frightful size.

The other day my wife was walking in the garden, when a large cobra glided past her; she called some of the men, who soon killed it, but it was too large to put into a bottle. A gentleman, happening to call just then, asked me whether I had seen the poison. I said, "No." He took the head between his fingers and squeezed it in such a way as to open the mouth. In the upper jaw were two very large white fangs, corresponding as it were to our eye-teeth. As he squeezed with more force, a tiny drop of perfectly transparent colourless fluid issued through the point of each fang--these were drops of venom that pass into the wound. The gentleman who showed me this was a medical man, and he said that he would not for a lac of rupees have the half of one of those drops get into a cut in his finger.

Last June, when the weather was intensely hot, after we left Pooree, where we had resided for six weeks with Mr. and Mrs. B., I went to Chandapore, a delightful place on the sea-coast, about seven miles from Balasore. The thermometer was 105° in-doors at six o'clock in the evening. When I started from Cuttack the thermometer in my palkee stood at 126°. At Chandapore I was glad to put on a cloth coat and cloth trowsers. That is one great advantage in my station; I have almost every variety of climate, except extreme cold. Indeed, when the bishop asked me how I liked my station, I told him I would not change with any chaplain in India.

At Chandapore four of us one morning started for a walk over the sands. We took no shoes nor stockings, and had our trowsers tucked up to the knees. How we did laugh at eyeing ourselves! we were like a set of merry boys. Every now and then one of us would step upon a quicksand and sink down half up his legs, and have to scramble out. Then, as we ran along in the water about six or eight inches deep, we would suddenly see two or three sea-scorpions, and run away, or perhaps slip or stumble over a piece of rock, and then down we came, and all roared with laughter, and then the magistrate sang out,--

"There was an old man at Barbago,
He lived upon nothing but sago;--
Oh! how he did jump,
When a doctor said, plump,
'To a roast leg of mutton you may go.'"

[Sidenote: SEA-SCORPIONS.]

I caught a couple of the sea-scorpions; they do not sting, but cut with the edge of their tails, and it is said that the wound is incurable. They are covered with a hard shell.

[Sidenote: RELIEF FUND.]

There is a great deal of illness about now, although the weather is most delightful: the thermometer seldom above 80°; the morning quite chilly. I am very well; the only complaint I have is that of getting exceedingly fat. I think I have mentioned our relief fund. There are a number of poor Christians here who have lived by beggary, stealing, and all sorts of wretchedness. We are trying to induce them to work, and give them materials, and purchase at a high rate what they produce, and I quite hope our plan will succeed.

You would have laughed to have seen me to-day, surrounded by a crowd of half-black women, measuring out prints and calicoes for dresses, &c.; I being obliged to do it, as my wife was poorly. The things they make are to be given, as rewards, in our new Christian school.

Barripore, November 28, 1843.

[Sidenote: SOLITUDE.]

How extraordinary does this utter solitude appear! I have just been outside the bungalow: there is none of that confused murmuring sound which is almost universal in England. Every noise is distinctly heard: a child's voice, or a dove's coo, appears to break the intensity of the silence. And then, the thought that, excepting a few barbarians, there is not a human being within a day's journey! The whole feeling is exciting, but oppressive. Millions of black heathens interpose between me and a single European; and yet, with one brace of pistols and a good thick stick, I feel myself perfectly secure. But I will give an instance of the power which each European possesses over these people.

When I went to Balasore with the L.'s, we had four palanquins, and consequently forty bearers. At one place, where we stopped to change men, Mrs. L. sent a man to my palanquin to say that she wanted to speak to me. I at once walked across to the spot where her palanquin stood. The night was as dark as pitch, with a nasty drizzling rain. The red flaming torches disclosed a group of from eighty to a hundred natives, with their long black hair and immense mustachios, naked, except a cloth round their loins.

As we changed bearers here, there was of course a double set present. We had four palanquins--one containing a native nurse and three of Captain L.'s children; another, Captain L. and one child; another, Mrs. L.; and the fourth was my own. On one side of the road was a dense thicket, or jungle; on the other, a deep canal, called by the natives a "nullah;" and these, as well as the dusky group, were flittingly lighted by the torches of the mussalchees. Every man, as is the custom, had a long stick in his hand. We were many hours' journey from any European; Captain L. was totally enfeebled by sickness; and, in short, I was the only person who could have attempted to knock a man down.

[Sidenote: SOCIAL RELATION OF EUROPEANS AND NATIVES.]

But mark the power of white skin (not but that mine is getting somewhat mahogany colour): when I bent down to learn what Mrs. L. wanted, she was too faint and weak to speak loud, and the abominable babbling of the hundred men about us prevented the possibility of my hearing what she said.

"Choop ruho!" (keep quiet) I called out, but to no effect. "Choop ruho!" I bawled, but still to no avail; I could not hear what Mrs. L. said. Suddenly I snatched the stick out of the hand of the man next me, just gave it a little flourish, and jumped into the middle of the crowd. "You want the whip, eh?" I shouted. "Choop ruho, will you?" (for a word or two of English generally slips in either at the beginning or the end of a hasty sentence). In one instant there was a dead silence: not a word of resistance, or even insolence. Mrs. L. was weak and faint, and it seemed she wanted a glass of wine-and-water; this detained us a little time, but as long as we remained there I found that, even if a whisper arose, the single word "Choop" was sufficient to quiet it directly.

Now, some people may say, here is a long story about nothing, or rather about getting a glass of wine-and-water; but I wish you to observe everything that takes place. Now, the nullah and the jungles, and the torches and the palanquins, are no great wonders in themselves, but together they make a pretty picture, or rather a striking one; and so through life you will find that every half-dozen things that you observe will either form, or assist in forming, some picture in your minds, which will certainly prove amusing or useful, or both.

Then, again, suppose I had told you that I desired the men to be quiet, and they obeyed me: that would have been much shorter, but it would not have led the mind on to any other train of thought; whereas the narrative, as I have related it, suggests many ideas which, if followed up, would fill whole pages; for instance--

1st. Why did the men dread the whip, when they were equally well
armed?

2nd. Are they accustomed to feel it?

3rd. Are they generally oppressed, and in what way; and would a
native government be an advantage to them?

4th. In what does that superiority consist which makes one hundred
Hindus afraid of one European?

5th. What is civilization? What is the difference between _real_
civilization, and that knowledge of arts and sciences, of
railroads and balloons, which is commonly dignified with the name?
And also what is the connexion between real, true civilization and
religion?

Here are a few out of numberless trains of thought and questions which might arise, and do naturally arise, from the little anecdote I have given. Now, suppose I had said, "At one stage Mrs. L. said something to me which I could not well make out on account of the noise the men made; however, I soon quieted them, and then found that she wanted some wine-and-water." That description would have given no idea of what actually took place, neither would it have afforded any subject for after consideration.

It was bitterly cold last night. I had on cloak, trowsers, a flannel jacket next my skin, a thick coat buttoned up to my neck, a double blanket over me, and both doors of my palkee shut. Yet I awoke about four o'clock this morning shivering with the cold, and was glad to get out and have a good run of two or three miles, flapping my arms against my sides, to restore the warmth. Mrs. Acland has complained of the cold for the last two days, even at twelve o'clock at noon. The fact is, people here become so accustomed to intense heat that they often find the cold weather very trying, and the hot season is notoriously the most healthy part of the year, though I fancy it is now as warm as an English summer.

Poor Mr. B., with whom we stayed while at Pooree, has had an attack of the terrible jungle-fever, and will, I fear, be obliged to return to England. A sick person, at least in my district, is quite a rarity: all the diseases are so rapid in their operation, that a week's illness is considered a long time. If it is violent, the patient generally dies in a few hours, or at most in two or three days; if slight, he is by that time convalescent, and generally proceeds at once either to the Cape of Good Hope or to England.

Cuttack, December 10.

I have been to Midnapore and back again. Whilst I was at Balasore information was brought in that one hundred and fifty or two hundred elephants had come down into the paddy-fields about twelve miles from Balasore, and that they were destroying the crops. Two or three of the Europeans there wanted to make up a party to go and attack them; I should very much like to have gone with them, but could not afford the time; so the proposition fell to the ground.

It is dangerous sport, but very exciting. The elephant is invulnerable except at one point, and that is a small hollow in the middle of the forehead. I said invulnerable, but that is an improper word; I mean, that that little spot is the only point where you can hit him fatally. Fancy an enormous elephant charging at full speed down a narrow path, with dense jungle on either side, and the sportsman standing still till he comes almost close, and then aiming at the forehead. Suppose he misses the one little spot--the elephant seizes him with his trunk, dashes him to the ground, and then kneels upon and crushes him; that is to say, if it is a fierce male elephant. The tusks of a large one are worth fifty pounds.

[Sidenote: JUGGERNAT'H FESTIVAL.]

The sight of the dead pilgrims by the roadside in this part of India is very dreadful; they go to Juggernat'h by hundreds, or rather by thousands. At the grand festival in June this year, when the car of Juggernat'h is dragged from the temple to his country house, there were present at least eighty thousand pilgrims from all parts of India, who each make large offerings to the idol, and during their stay are not allowed to eat any food but what has been prepared in the temple by the priests. Of course, for this food a most exorbitant price is charged, and at the same time it is of so inferior a quality that numbers died of cholera in consequence of eating it. Many of the pilgrims when they leave Pooree have not a pice left, and literally lie down and die of starvation by the roadside. The instant they are dead they are surrounded by jackals, dogs, and vultures, who quickly peel all the flesh from the bones: it is a horrid sight, but one which is too frequent to create surprise.

To the support of this temple our Christian government pays 6000_l._ a-year, whilst at other places it supports one, two, or more priests. Some will scarcely understand all the arguments by which this pernicious support of idolatry is defended. The principal reason given is, that, when we took possession of the country, we found a number of heathen temples, supported out of the produce of certain lands which were appropriated to their service; and that we, having taken possession of those lands, are bound to support the same temples by money derived from our own revenue. When the Roman Catholics conquered a country, their first object was to extirpate idolatry; when the Mohammedans waged war, they did it in order to destroy the idols of the heathens; but we encourage and protect all those wicked and evil superstitions.

Terrible as is the sight of the mutilated bodies of the pilgrims, it is not to me half so shocking as their thanks when they are relieved. As I travel, some poor wretch, who has more the appearance of a skeleton than a human being, comes to the side of the palanquin, and cries in Hindustanee, "Oh, great king, have mercy! I have been to Juggernat'h, and I have no rice. I have not tasted food, O great king, for three days. Oh, great king, give me some cowries to buy some rice!" I give the man a pice or two, and then he exclaims, "May Juggernat'h bless you, O great being! May Juggernat'h make you prosperous!" This invocation of a blessing from an idol sounds most frightful. The horrors of the roadside scene I will not describe--they are too fearful.

The above account reminds me of the exaggerated manner of expression in use among the Eastern nations. I will give another instance of it, premising that it is the usual style of language employed by the natives towards their European masters. At Midnapore, the other day, I wanted to call on the commanding officer; I accordingly got into a tanjore,--that is, the body of a gig, supported on two poles, and carried by men. As they took me up, I told them to go to the Colonel Sahib's; they spoke together for a few minutes, and then one of them said in Hindustanee, "O representative of God, your slaves do not know where the Colonel Sahib lives."

"Well, do you know where the Salt-Agent Sahib lives?"

"Yes, O representative of God."

"Then take me there."

I had turned away a domestic for being impertinent--a case of very rare occurrence amongst the natives. He was my own personal attendant, and an excellent servant, but I would not allow him to be insolent, and therefore discharged him at once. For weeks this man stood at the gate of my compound, ran for miles by the side of my palanquin when I went out in it, and, if he saw me walking, threw himself on the ground at full length before me, extending his hands clasped over his head, and then crept or rather glided on his stomach close to me, kissed my feet, placed them on his head, and, whilst the tears ran from his eyes, exclaimed in Hindustanee, "O great being! O representative of God, have pity on your slave! punish me, whip me, but let me be your slave, O great king!" One day he brought his two little boys with him, and made them also kneel at my feet. He was an old man with a long beard, and he rubbed it in the dust, and cried and sobbed. I looked at his sons, and thought of my own children, and, as I considered he had been sufficiently punished, I told him to get up and I would try him again. He raised himself on his knees, and kissed the hem of my garment.[5] He is now the most useful servant I have. He is a sheikh--Sheikh Ibrahim is his name, and he had served every one of my predecessors, the chaplains at Cuttack.

[Sidenote: NUMBER AND NAMES OF SERVANTS.]

I do not know the names of all my servants, but I will mention a few. Ibrahim is my sirdar, or valet, and chief man; my bearer is Maqua (which, by the way, is a name in use amongst the Indians in North America); my water-carrier is Rangore; my watchman, or chokedar, Sieboo; my sweeper, Ramoo. These last four are allowed me and paid for by Government: I give them a trifle in addition to their regular pay. The cook, or bowachee, is Callipar; and the table-servant, or khitmutgar, is Pekhoo. We only keep one table-servant; every one else keeps two, and many four or five. My syce, or groom, is Saitor; I do not know the names of the coachman, grass-cutter, tailor, and carpenter, nor of my wife's woman-servant, or ayah, as she is called. I think these are all our domestics, except the dobee, or washerman, but I do not know his name.

I believe every one in Bengal keeps more servants than I do. In the Madras presidency not nearly so many are required, as one there will do the work of three here. I do not know how it is in Bombay. I suppose it is on this account that in the Bengal presidency we receive higher pay than in the other parts of India. I said that I kept fewer than most people, but I certainly think I am better served than those who keep double the number, and I attribute it to this: I never beat my servants; I scold them, but do not strike them: and I believe that they exert themselves very much in order that they may remain with me on that account, for the cruelty practised by many towards their domestics is most shocking. Yet I firmly believe that I am better served, and, if I may use the expression, really loved, for that very reason.

When a servant is ill it is usual to stop his wages entirely: this I think wrong, and I therefore only stop half, which is another inducement to them to exert themselves in order to remain with me. I will give an instance of the sort of exertion to which I allude. When I packed the last box for England, my carpenter was ill; my cook is a very handy sort of man, so I called him, and desired him to nail up the box; he did it without a moment's hesitation. Almost any other cook would rather have left his situation than have done what he did not consider his work.

Again, I do not know any other person who can get one man to wait on both the sahib and the mem. My khitmutgar not only does this, but also cleans my gun, and sometimes goes out shooting with me; when he is thus engaged the cook supplies his place. These are the advantages of kindness.

It is a common saying that the Hindus have no sense of gratitude, that they have not even a word to express that feeling in their language. I do not believe it, and will give you a case in point. When we are going to travel we pay the money for the bearers into the hands of the postmasters beforehand; he then orders the men to be ready at each stage, and he subsequently sends them their pay. At one stage, as I was going to Midnapore some time ago, the men complained to me that they had not received their money for many months. I questioned them, and, finding their story probable, I promised to speak to the postmaster, and also offered to carry a petition from them to him. This I did; there had been a fault somewhere, but not, I believe, with the postmaster. However, the poor men got their money.

Since that time, whenever I go along the road, as soon as I come to that place a man calls out, "Here is the kind sahib that took our letter for us;" and although the stage is ten miles in length, yet they carry me over it in less time than it takes me to go a six-mile stage elsewhere. My palkee is a heavy one, but they literally run as fast as they can the whole way; and two additional men always go with them without asking for any pay. Is not this something like gratitude?

[Sidenote: HONESTY OF NATIVES.]

They are said to be extremely dishonest--I mean the natives generally. This also I deny; although their treatment by individuals is enough to make them so; for on the part of Government the error--if any--lies in an excess of mildness and lenity. I would not hesitate, if it were necessary, to intrust a thousand rupees to a servant to take to Calcutta: that is for him a fifteen days' journey. Yet, if he chose, he might easily get beyond my reach; and such a sum would be sufficient to purchase an estate which would render himself and his descendants landed proprietors and gentlemen. I doubt whether you could say more than that for English honesty; although, of course, there may be exceptions here as well as there.

After I left Jelasore the other day, I remembered that I had omitted to lock my patarahs or tin travelling-boxes. There were many valuable things in them, and when I reached the first stage they had not then come up; yet I proceeded day after-day for one hundred and fifty miles without the slightest uneasiness; and these patarahs, which had passed through the hands of sixteen men successively, all of the poorest class and each one alone, arrived at Cuttack in safety one day after myself. I should not have felt so easy had this occurred in England. But enough of this subject for the present.

I was riding out with two friends a few days ago near Balasore, when we saw a cavalcade approaching, consisting of several armed men, some on horseback others on camels. We inquired who they were, and learned that it was the escort of Bheere Singh, who had been on a pilgrimage to Juggernat'h. We joined the Rajah and had a long gossip with him.

The first salutation was a salaam on both sides, that is,--we bowed almost to the necks of our horses, pressing the palms of our right hands against our foreheads. The Rajah, being more polite, or having better command of his horse, salaamed with both hands. I shall describe the man, because, judging from the present state of his country, it is possible that he may hereafter figure in the history of India. He appeared about forty years of age, strongly built, but not very tall; large black whiskers, and the universal moustache, which however was smaller than usual. There was much fire and animation both in his eyes and gestures; I should say also that his look betrayed a cunning and intriguing spirit. He was evidently unwilling to say much concerning the disturbances which have recently taken place in his country, but was most anxious to hear our opinions. He said he had seen the burra lord (great lord), Ellenborough, as he came through Calcutta; and I wondered whether the real object of his journey might not have been to see and speak with the Governor-General rather than to perform his devotions at Pooree.

But one thing struck me especially, and it is a thing highly to the credit of our Indian Government. Pointing to his retinue, he said, "This I very much admire. In my own country and all the native states (that is, states governed by native rajahs), if I were to go to sleep, I must set my guards round me with their arms in their hands, and I dare not ask a stranger to carry a thing for me lest he should run away with it. But directly I come into the Burra Beebee Company's territories" (the East India Company is called the Burra Beebee, or the great lady, by all the natives), "directly I come into their territories, although they are so vast, so immense, from sea to sea" (and he stretched forth his hands in every direction), "directly I come there, if I am weary, I can go to sleep under any tree by the roadside, and I can tell all my guards to go to sleep also. If I want anything carried, I can say to the stranger 'Carry it,' and I know it is safe. Oh! the Burra Beebee Company is a very good great king."

And most assuredly it is so. Wherever we come we give sound laws, and the people find peace and comparative happiness. Under the native rajahs all is anarchy, bloodshed, and oppression. Would that the whole of India were under our sway, and that our Government would seek, by firm and decisive measures, to introduce the blessings of Christianity amongst the thousands and millions of their heathen subjects! I consider these few words of Bheere Singh to confer far more real honour on our Government than all their victories.

[Sidenote: A MEETING.]

How little one knows in England of the pleasure of meeting with an acquaintance! The other night, as I was travelling and just dozing in my palanquin, I was roused by a loud voice--"Hulloh, Acland! what, is that you?" I was out of my palkee in an instant, and Mr. C., of Talacore, jumped out of his. What a break in the monotony of the road! and yet there was one great unpleasantness about it, and that was, we were obliged, after a few minutes' gossip, each to return to his own solitary palanquin. He produced some oranges; we sucked one or two, and then separated.

FOOTNOTE:

[5] This man continued most faithfully attached till his master's death, and was then inconsolable.

Cuttack, December 25, 1843.

Yesterday morning Captain W. sent to ask me whether I would go out into the jungle with him and try and get some hares. I did not feel much inclined, as my yearly supply of stores, such as wine, beer, candles, vinegar, &c. &c., had just arrived from Calcutta. However I thought that perhaps I should see something which might amuse me, so I went. At three we started on our ponies across the tedious sands to the river. The water we crossed in a boat, and then remounted and rode for some distance into the jungle: at last down we got. We had fourteen men with us to beat the jungle.

[Sidenote: CHOUDWAR.]

We walked along through the wildest scenery, looking for hares, until we arrived at Choudwar--at least that I believe to be the name of the place I described once before, which I said reminded me much of the ancient Petra. There are several long deep ravines filled with dense jungle, the sides composed of perpendicular black rock, a sort of iron-stone, in some parts of which steps have been cut, and in other places great blocks are lying about irregularly, or forming the foundations of the houses of the ancient inhabitants.

We had found no game of any sort except porcupines, which abound here. At last we came to a ravine of the shape of an acute triangle. The lower line was a perpendicular face of rock of perhaps forty feet in height, the other line was a steep slope, and all the hollow was filled with thick jungle. Captain W. and myself were standing about the middle of the lower line, and we ordered the men that were with us to go down and beat the bushes in the hollow.

[Sidenote: SPORTING.]

As they went down I observed to Captain W. that I thought it looked a likely place for something rather larger than hares. He replied that the men said there were no wild beasts about here. He had hardly done speaking when we heard the most frightful snarling growl proceeding from the bushes down at the farther point of the angle. "A tiger!" screamed the men, and ran off in every direction as fast as they could. "Give us the guns with ball," shouted we; for those in our hands had only small shot, and the men behind us held our other guns. "It is a great hyæna!" shouted I, as with another growl an enormous one sneaked out of the bushes up the bank opposite to that on which we stood. Bang! went the Captain's gun and mine at the same time;--down fell the brute, up again, turned round, yelled, and screamed, inclined to make a rush at us. Bang! bang! again with the other barrels, and with a scream the animal bounded off on three legs, his hind thigh having been broken by one of our balls. "Powder! powder, quickly!" was the cry, and our men handed us the powder and balls: we reloaded as quickly as possible, our hands trembling with excitement.

"Give chase!" I shouted, and off we set as hard as we could run towards the other bank, where the beast was still running, and turning every now and then to snarl at us. "Coolies, drive him hither!" cried Captain W., and on we bounded; but the coolies were not at all willing to obey the command, and so we had a long chase. "I'll fire; you mind him if he turns," exclaimed W. Bang! A yell from the hyæna; and down he rushes towards me. Bang! he's down--no--up again. Another shot from Captain W., and over he tumbles and is dead in a few minutes.

The excitement of such a chase is very great. I was hot and tired, and also fat; but when I saw the enormous brute all was forgotten, and I leaped down the rocks, scrambled up the hills, and bounded over the bushes, as if I had been a boy.

The hyæna is a cowardly animal, although he has immense strength both of jaw and paw. Had this been a tiger, he would at the first wound have flown at us, and perhaps killed us before we had time to load again; but the hyæna rarely turns upon the hunters unless he sees that all escape is hopeless. I had no idea that these animals were so large. This was little if at all less than a full-grown tiger. He did not spring out like the latter would have done, but sneaked along as if he thought his horrid ugliness would protect him.

As we were coming home over the sands, I asked Captain W. if he did not mean to discharge his gun before he went in. "Yes," said he, "and there is a target," pointing to a large black pariah dog, which was feasting on some rotten carrion at a considerable distance. We dismounted, took our guns, and Captain W. fired. The ball struck the sand between the animal's legs, and he stared round him as if to know what it meant. Captain W.'s next shot struck the sand close to the dog's nose. Off he started, when I raised my gun and fired, and he rolled over dead. This was a useless piece of cruelty; the killing the hyæna was right, because these animals do much mischief among the cattle, and will also carry away young children; but the dogs are in a great measure our scavengers, and carry off all sorts of filth.

The only other things we fired at were some jackals and a white-headed falcon. The former we missed; the latter I killed. The miner is a pretty bird, of which I have before spoken. I consider it good eating, although most persons have a prejudice against it, as not being a very clean feeder. They fly in large flocks. The other day, with a small charge of shot, I killed five at once. The parrots are very destructive to the fruit, especially the custard-apple; I therefore frequently shoot them in my own garden.

Cuttack, January 2, 1844.

I have been to Pooree; but what I am going to relate now is an adventure, not of my own, but of some valiant officers of the regiment stationed here. The Captain, the Lieutenant, the Ensign, and a Serjeant, went out for a day's shooting; and I had the story from two separate individuals of the party. They rode to the ground, and then skirted for some time along the side of the dense jungle. At last the Captain says--"Well, I am tired; I shan't go any farther. Bring me my camp-stool." Fancy a man's taking a camp-stool when he goes out to hunt or shoot! However, down he sat; and the other three proceeded some way farther. At length the Lieutenant says--"Well, _I_ am tired; I shan't go any farther. Give me my camp-stool." Down he sat; and on went the other two, until the Ensign said--"Well, I am tired; I shan't go any farther. Give me my camp-stool." And he sat down.

The Serjeant, with one native, now proceeded down a narrow path which led into the jungle. He had not been gone more than five minutes when the Ensign heard the report of a gun, and the next instant the Serjeant rushed out of the jungle, without his hat, without his gun, with his mouth wide open, eyes staring, and hair all on end. "What's the matter, Serjeant?" cries the Ensign. "A tiger, sir," says the other, without stopping. "A tiger?" "Ay." Down goes the Ensign's gun over his camp-stool, and off he starts after the Serjeant as fast as his legs can carry him. "Hulloh!" exclaims the Lieutenant, as they came rushing towards him: "why, what's in the wind now?" "A tiger! a tiger!" they shout. Down goes the Lieutenant's gun, and he quickly joins in the race. "What in the world are you all after?" cries the Captain, as they came to where he was comfortably sitting, drinking a bottle of beer, and smoking a cigar. "A tiger! a tiger! a tiger!" is again the reply. "Pooh, pooh, nonsense!" said the Captain, moving slowly towards his horse. "Nonsense!" answered the fugitives; "we tell you there is a tiger down there: go and see yourself." "No, I am tired," says the Captain; "I shall go home." And he jumped on his horse, and, followed by his brave comrades, galloped back to Cuttack. How the natives did grin and chuckle. They, too, had seen the frightful monster, and knew that it was a poor harmless jackal which had put to flight the Captain, and the Lieutenant, and the Ensign, and the Serjeant!!!

But there is moral to this tale. Another officer asked the Serjeant afterwards why he ran away? The answer was, that he ran at first because he was alone and unsupported, and that he ran afterwards because he saw the officers run. And this will ever be the case. If the officers show a firm front, so will the men: if the officers waver or hesitate, it will naturally strike a panic into the minds of those who are accustomed to look up to them for guidance. Remarkable instances of both these positions we have recently had at Jellalabad and Kabul.

[Sidenote: COSTUME REGULATIONS.]

I start on Friday next for Balasore. I go principally for the sake of exercise and shooting. There are a great many bears there. My wife has just hired a new woman-servant. She is of the Ooriah Mehanee caste, and therefore may not wear petticoats, but only the common native dress. Now, all ladies like their own personal servants to wear petticoats; but here it is so strictly forbidden, that the woman, if she were once to put them on, would be deserted by her husband and children, and never be suffered to eat with any of her tribe. But then the Hindu law, whilst it is thus severe on any breach of caste, provides an easy mode of getting over the difficulty. My wife gives the woman eight shillings: the woman gives half of this to the priest, and with the other half she provides a feast for her tribe. After this she may wear her petticoats in peace and security.

Barripore, January 5, 1844.

[Sidenote: MIRAGE AT POOREE.]

There is one part of the sands at Pooree, on which if you stand about the middle of the day, and look towards the north, you are surprised to observe in the distance an English town. You see several three-storied houses, with doors and windows: interspersed here and there are several very English-looking trees; and at a short distance, standing on a small hill, you see the ruins of a large castle, with the green ivy clinging to it in many parts. Often have I stood and gazed upon this scene, for it reminds me of dear England. And yet, if you go to the place, what do you suppose you find? Nothing but one long flat bed of loose sand, without one vestige of a tree.

The appearance is caused solely by the refraction of the rays of light. To explain this I will give an example. If you hold a stick so that the lower part is in the water and the upper part in the air, the stick will appear to be bent at the point where it passes the surface of the water; or, place a shilling in a cup or basin, so that you cannot see it because the side of the cup hides it from you, fill the cup with water, and then you will see the shilling, although it is still in the same spot it was in before. This bending of the rays is what is called refraction, and is caused by the rays passing out of one transparent thing into another which is more or less dense than the first. I think that the cause of the mirage at Pooree is this. Hot air is less dense than cold air. The steam which comes from a kettle is still water, but it occupies a much larger space than the water did. One kettle of water will give much more than a kettlefull of steam, so that it is evident that the heat has made the water occupy a much larger quantity of space. Still the steam is only water; therefore it must be much less dense than cold water. If you filled a saucepan with water, and fastened the lid down, so that no steam could escape, it would burst it: the particles of heat cause the particles of water to be less closely connected together. But that is a subject too abstruse for this work.

Well, hot air, like hot water, is less dense than cold air; also water is more dense than air. You could not run along as quickly in the water as you could in the air; you could not strike a person with your hand under water hard enough to hurt him; and this is because the water is more dense or solid than air: therefore, air with a good deal of moisture in it is more dense than when dry. But along the hot sands of Pooree, close to the sea-shore, there must be a great deal of heat and also a great deal of moisture.

In the direction in which you look to see the mirage I mentioned, there is a small piece of stagnant water from which much moisture must arise under the burning heat of the sun; consequently there must be much refraction in all directions. And this is seen in looking the right way from all parts of the Pooree sands; and from the particular point to which I have alluded, this picture, owing, I suppose, to certain marks in the sand, assumes the appearance of a castle, houses, &c. All this is a very rough explanation; but it may serve to give you some idea of the probable cause of the mirage. Ships have sometimes appeared to be sailing in the air from the same cause; and distant coasts, which were far below the horizon, have been distinctly seen by means of the refraction.

Guzzeepuddee, 8 miles from Balasore, January 12.

[Sidenote: SPORTING.]

Yesterday morning about four o'clock we started from Balasore on horseback. The party consisted of the magistrate, the surgeon, and myself. It was a brilliant moonlight, but somehow I thought I should like to finish my night's rest, and therefore soon got into my palanquin, and had a most comfortable nap. I was awakened at daybreak by my bearers stopping and telling me that they did not know the way to Guzzeepuddee. I got out of my palanquin, loaded my gun, inquired my way of the first native I saw, sent my palanquin on, and then with two servants entered the jungle. Whereabout the magistrate and the doctor were I had not the slightest idea. I had a delightful ramble through a jungle, many of the natives following me from each village through which I passed, and appearing to take great interest in the success of my sport.

I went on, with my broad-brimmer hat and brown leather gaiters, followed by twenty or thirty black fellows, forcing my way through the thickest, densest shrubberies, thinking at every instant that I might come suddenly on a large bear. Every now and then a break would occur in the jungle, and I would emerge from the tangled thicket into a broad open space of three or four acres, covered with the smoothest turf, interspersed here and there with the graceful bamboo, and surmounted on all sides with a literal wall of trees and underwood. On their branches sat the splendid wild fowls and the beautiful peacocks, whilst from all sides I heard the soft cooing of the doves.

Then again I would find myself in a similar open space; but instead of the turf there was a broad sheet of water, with the red and white lotus-flowers floating on the surface, and the glittering white paddy-bin (a sort of small stock) stretching along the edge. A little farther on I came suddenly on a large jheel (a piece of shallow muddy water), with the heron and the pelican, and I think the spoonbill, standing on the sides and busily catching their breakfast of fish. Several of the most curious of the birds I shot, in order to preserve their skins, and occasionally, as a hare darted across my path, I would raise my gun and fire. But one bird I must describe more particularly.

I was standing by the side of a large jheel, when a native called out, "A bird, very good: look, sir." I looked in the direction in which he pointed, but could see nothing, and was going to scold him, when he said, "It will come." I continued watching, when presently I saw what appeared to be a long snake rising from the water. It was some little time before I could make up my mind that this was actually part of a bird, and by that time the long neck was again drawn under water, and nothing was visible.

[Sidenote: A WATER-RACE.]

I continued to watch, and presently, at some yards from the spot where it had before appeared, the same snaky form was again elevated into the air. It was almost like shooting at a reed, but however I raised my gun and fired. There was an instant struggle in the water, and then I saw the body of a large dark-coloured bird floating on the surface. Wishing to obtain the body, I turned to the natives and said, "The man that wants a pice, bring that bird to me." The pice is a little more than a farthing, but enough to find a family for a day. Six or eight boys and men dashed into the water, and there was a regular race, struggling and swimming in order to obtain the prize. One boy had just reached the spot, when suddenly it disappeared; now the long neck rose in a different place, and again there was a rush to obtain the pice. The bird, which was evidently much wounded, began to move across the water, keeping its long neck about eighteen inches above the surface, no other part being visible. I was running round the banks to have another shot, when the bird suddenly rose, and, with its long legs extending behind, flew over the jungle. I saw it fall at a short distance, but the bushes were so thickly matted together that I could not get near the place.

As I advanced farther from Balasore the natives of the village appeared astonished at my appearance, many of them probably never having seen a white man before. Some stood still staring at me, others ran and hid themselves in their houses. At last I came to a large open space of a mile or more in diameter, and here a most singular scene presented itself. Throughout the whole extent of the space, large masses of black rock, perfectly smooth and rounded at the edges, rose at intervals to the height of twelve or sixteen feet, at an angle of about 70°. It appeared as if some mighty city had been swept over by a hurricane, and all the walls were tottering to their fall.

Some time after this, to my great satisfaction, I arrived at the tent, which had been sent there the day before, and found a plentiful breakfast ready, and the rest of the party anxiously awaiting my arrival. I had been nearly six hours on foot. Our tent is about eighteen feet square, with one pole in the centre, a table and chairs inside, and our palanquins, in which we sleep at night, standing under a sort of canvas verandah. There is another very small tent for a bath-room, and also a part composed of a single piece of canvas for the servants. The latter is about thirty feet long and fifteen broad.

[Sidenote: ENCAMPMENT.]

And now let us look around the encampment. The immediate neighbourhood consists of rice-fields, from which the paddy has been cut. At about half a mile from the tents on either side is a thick jungle, and in the distance are the rugged and magnificent hills of the Neilghur, which I have already described.

At six o'clock in the evening the sun was just setting as we three sahibs returned from our day's shooting. The magistrate is just washing his hands in a chillumchee, or brass basin, at the door of the tent. In the front-ground, on two chairs, are seated the doctor and myself; the former is having his long leather gaiters or overalls pulled off. I have one foot in a chillumchee of warm water, the other resting on the black knee of one of my servants, who is shampooing and cracking each joint of the toes. Now he has done that, wiped the foot dry, put on the shoe, and is squeezing or kneading each muscle in the calf of the leg. No one but those who have experienced it can have any idea what a luxury this is when you are very tired!

Behind us stands a long-bearded turbaned khitmutgar, with sherry and glasses. Our guns are leaning against the side of the tent, our horses are picketed to a tree close by, and the grooms are busily rubbing them down. A hundred or a hundred and fifty black natives are separating into groups according to their castes, and are lighting fires all around in order to cook their dinners. Behind the servants' tent is a fire of charcoal, over which a black man is turning a hare, some partridges, a peacock, and several other results of our day's sport. Close by is another fire of wood crackling and sparkling, on which are stew-pans with salmon, oysters, &c. &c., which have come from England.