Chapter XIII: In an Indian Hill Station

To Darjeeling--Railway journeys in India--Protection for
solitary ladies--Reappearing rivers--Siliguri--At the
foot of the Himalayas--A mountain railway--Through the
jungle--Looping the loop--View of the
Plains--Darjeeling--Civilisation seven thousand feet
high--Varied types--View from the Chaurasta--White
workers in India--Life in Hill
Stations--Lieutenant-Governors--A "dull time" in
Darjeeling--The bazaar--Types of hill
races--Turquoises--Tiger-skins for tourists--The
Amusement Club--The Everlasting
Snows--Kinchinjunga--The bachelors' ball--A Government
House ball--The marriage-market value of Indian
civilians--Less demand for military
men--Theatricals--Lebong Races--Picturesque
race-goers--Ladies in India--Husband hunters--The empty
life of an Englishwoman--The dangers of Hill
Stations--A wife four months in the year--The hills
_taboo_ for the subaltern--Back to Buxa 262

CHAPTER XIV

A JUNGLE FORT

I decide on Fort Bower--Felling trees--A big
python--Clearing the jungle--Laying out the
post--Stockades and _Sungars_--The bastions--_Panjis_
and _abattis_--The huts--Jungle materials--Ingenious
craftsmen--The furniture--Sentry-posts--Alarm
signals--The _machicoulis_ gallery--Booby-traps--The
water-lifter--The hospital--Chloroforming a
monkey--Jungle dogs--An extraordinary shot--An unlucky
deer--A meeting with a panther--The alarm--Sohanpal
Singh and the tiger--Turning out to the rescue--The
General's arrival--Closed gates--The inspection--The
"Bower" and the "'Ump"--Flares and bombs--The General's
praise--Night firing--A Christmas camp 280