Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier
PREFACE.
CHAPTER I. Province of Behar.—Boundaries.—General
description.—District of Chumparun.—Mooteeharree.—The town and
lake.—Native houses.—The Planters' Club.—Legoulie.
CHAPTER II. My first charge.—How we get our
lands.—Our home farm.—System of farming.—Collection of rents.—The
planter's duties.
CHAPTER III. How to get our crop.—The
'Dangurs.'—Farm servants and their duties. —Kassee
Rai.—Hoeing.—Ploughing.—'Oustennie.'—Coolies at work.
—Sowing.—Difficulties the plant has to contend with.—Weeding.
CHAPTER IV. Manufacture of Indigo.—Loading the
vats.—Beating.—Boiling, straining, and pressing.—Scene in the
Factory.—Fluctuation of produce.—Chemistry of Indigo.
CHAPTER V. Parewah factory.—A 'Bobbery
Pack.'—Hunt through a village after a cat.—The pariah dog of
India.—Fate of 'Pincher.'—Rampore hound. —Persian
greyhound.—Caboolee dogs.—A jackal hunt.—Incidents of the chase.
CHAPTER VI. Fishing in India.—Hereditary
trades.—The boatmen and fishermen of India.—Their
villages.—Nets.—Modes of fishing.—Curiosities relating
thereto.—Catching an alligator with a hook.—Exciting
capture.-Crocodiles.—Shooting an alligator.—Death of the man-eater.
CHAPTER VII. Native superstitions.—Charming a
bewitched woman.—Exorcising ghosts from a field.—Witchcraft.—The
witchfinder or 'Ojah.'—Influence of fear.—Snake bites.—How to cure
them.—How to discover a thief.—Ghosts and their habits.—The
'Haddick' or native bone-setter.—Cruelty to animals by natives.
CHAPTER VIII. Our annual race meet.—The
arrivals.—The camps.—The 'ordinary.'—The course.—'They're
off.'—The race.—The steeple-chase.—Incidents of the meet.—The ball.
CHAPTER IX. Pig-sticking in India.—Varieties of
boar.—Their size and height. —Ingenious mode of capture by the
natives,—The 'Batan' or buffalo herd.—Pigs charging.—Their courage
and ferocity.—Destruction of game.—A close season for game.
CHAPTER X. Kuderent jungle.—Charged by a
pig.—The biter bit.—'Mac' after the big boar.—The horse for
pig-sticking.—The line of beaters.—The boar breaks.—'Away!
Away!'—First spear.—Pig-sticking at Peeprah.—The old 'lungra' or
cripple.—A boar at bay.—Hurrah for pig-sticking!
CHAPTER XI. The sal forests.—The jungle
goddess.—The trees in the jungle. —Appearance of the
forests.—Birds.—Varieties of parrots.—A 'beat' in the forest.—The
'shekarry.'—Mehrman Singh and his gun.—The Banturs, a jungle tribe of
wood-cutters.—Their habits.—A village feast.—We beat for
deer.—Habits of the spotted deer.—Waiting for the game.—Mehrman
Singh gets drunk.—Our bag.—Pea-fowl and their habits.—How to shoot
them.—Curious custom of the Nepaulese.—How Juggroo was tricked, and
his revenge.
CHAPTER XII. The leopard.—How to shoot
him.—Gallant encounter with a wounded one.—Encounter with a leopard
in a dak bungalow.—Pat shoots two leopards.—Effects of the Express
bullet.—The 'Sirwah Purrul,' or annual festival of huntsmen.—The
Hindoo ryot.—Rice-planting and harvest.—Poverty of the ryot.—His
apathy.—Village fires.—Want of sanitation.
CHAPTER XIII. Description of a native
village.—Village functionaries.—The barber. —Bathing habits.—The
village well.—The school.—The children.—The village bazaar.—The
landowner and his dwelling.—The 'Putwarrie' or village
accountant.—The blacksmith.—The 'Punchayiet' or village jury
system.—Our legal system in India.—Remarks on the administration of
justice.
CHAPTER XIV. A native village continued.—The
watchman or 'chowkeydar.'—The
temple.—Brahmins.—Idols.—Religion.—Humility of the poorer classes.
—Their low condition.—Their apathy.—The police.—Their extortions
and knavery.—An instance of police rascality.—Corruption of native
officials.—The Hindoo unfit for self-government.
CHAPTER XV. Jungle wild fruits.—Curious method of
catching quail.—Quail nets. —Quail caught in a blacksmith's
shop.—Native wrestling.—The trainer.—How they train for a
match.—Rules of wrestling.—Grips. —A wrestling match.—Incidents of
the struggle.—Description of a match between a Brahmin and a
blacksmith.—Sparring for the grip.—The blacksmith has it.—The
struggle.—The Brahmin getting the worst of it.—Two to one on the
little 'un!—The Brahmin plays the waiting game, turns the tables and
the blacksmith.—Remarks on wrestling.
CHAPTER XVI. Indigo seed growing.—Seed buying and
buyers.—Tricks of sellers. —Tests for good seed.—The
threshing-floor.—Seed cleaning and packing.—Staff of
servants.—Despatching the bags by boat.—The 'Pooneah' or rent
day.—Purneah planters—their hospitality.—The rent day a great
festival.—Preparation.—Collection of rents.—Feast to retainers.—The
reception in the evening.—Tribute.—Old customs. —Improvisatores and
bards.—Nautches.—Dancing and music.—The dance of the
Dangurs.—Jugglers and itinerary showmen.—'Bara Roopes,' or actors and
mimics.—Their different styles of acting.
CHAPTER XVII. The Koosee
jungles.—Ferries.—Jungle roads.—The rhinoceros.—We go to visit a
neighbour.—We lose our way and get belated.—We fall into a
quicksand.—No ferry boat.—Camping out on the sand.—Two tigers close
by.—We light a fire.—The boat at last arrives.—Crossing the
stream.—Set fire to the boatman's hut.—Swim the horses.—They are
nearly drowned.—We again lose our way in the jungle.—The towing path,
and how boats are towed up the river.—We at last reach the
factory.—News of rhinoceros in the morning.—Off we start, but arrive
too late.—Death of the rhinoceros.—His dimensions.—Description.
—Habits.—Rhinoceros in Nepaul.—The old 'Major
Capt[=a]n.'—Description of Nepaulese scenery.—Immigration of
Nepaulese.—Their fondness for fish.—They eat it putrid.—Exclusion of
Europeans from Nepaul. —Resources of the country.—Must sooner or
later be opened up. —Influences at work to elevate the
people.—Planters and factories chief of these.—Character of the
planter.—His claims to consideration from government.
CHAPTER XVIII. The tiger.—His habitat.—Shooting
on foot.—Modes of shooting.—A tiger hunt on foot.—The scene of the
hunt.-The beat.—Incidents of the hunt.—Fireworks.—The tiger
charges.—The elephant bolts.—The tigress will not break.—We kill a
half-grown cub.—Try again for the
tigress.—Unsuccessful.—Exaggerations in tiger stories.—My
authorities.—The brothers S.—Ferocity and structure of the tiger.
—His devastations.—His frame-work, teeth, &c.—A tiger at bay. —His
unsociable habits.—Fight between tiger and tigress.—Young
tigers.—Power and strength of the tiger.—Examples.—His cowardice.
—Charge of a wounded tiger.—Incidents connected with wounded tigers.
—A spined tiger.—Boldness of young tigers.—Cruelty.—Cunning.—Night
scenes in the jungle.—Tiger killed by a wild boar.—His cautious
habits.—General remarks.
CHAPTER XIX. The tiger's mode of attack.—The food
he prefers.—Varieties of prey. —Examples.—What he eats first.—How
to tell the kill of a tiger. —Appetite fierce.—Tiger choked by a
bone.—Two varieties of tiger.—The royal Bengal.—Description.—The
hill tiger.—His description.—The two compared.—Length of the
tiger.—How to measure tigers.—Measurements.—Comparison between male
and female. —Number of young at a birth.—The young cubs.—Mother
teaching cubs to kill.—Education and progress of the young
tiger.—Wariness and cunning of the tiger.—Hunting incidents shewing
their powers of concealment.—Tigers taking to
water.—Examples.—Swimming powers. —Caught by floods.—Story of the
Soonderbund tigers.
CHAPTER XX. No regular breeding season.—Beliefs
and prejudices of the natives about tigers.—Bravery of the 'gwalla,'
or cowherd caste.—Clawmarks on trees.—Fondness for particular
localities.—Tiger in Mr. F.'s howdah.—Springing powers of
tigers.—Lying close in cover.—Incident. —Tiger shot with No. 4
shot.—Man clawed by a tiger.—Knocked its eye out with a sickle.—Same
tiger subsequently shot in same place.—Tigers easily
killed.—Instances.—Effect of shells on tiger and buffalo.—Best
weapon and bullets for tiger.—Poisoning tigers denounced.—Natives
prone to exaggerate in giving news of tiger.—Anecdote.—Beating for
tiger.—Line of elephants.—Padding dead game.—Line of seventy-six
elephants.—Captain of the hunt.—Flags for signals in the line.
—'Naka,' or scout ahead.—Usual time for tiger shooting on the
Koosee.—Firing the jungle.—The line of fire at night.—Foolish to
shoot at moving jungle.—Never shoot down the line.—Motions of
different animals in the grass.
CHAPTER XXI. Howdahs and howdah-ropes.—Mussulman
custom.—Killing animals for food.—Mysterious appearance of natives
when an animal is killed. —Fastening dead tigers to the pad.—Present
mode wants improving. —Incident illustrative of this.—Dangerous to go
close to wounded tigers.—Examples.—Footprints of tigers.—Call of the
tiger.—Natives and their powers of description.—How to beat
successfully for tiger. —Description of a beat.—Disputes among the
shooters.—Awarding tigers.—Cutting open the tiger.—Native idea about
the liver of the tiger.—Signs of a tiger's presence in the
jungle.—Vultures.—Do they scent their quarry or view it?—A vulture
carrion feast.
CHAPTER XXII. We start for a tiger hunt on the
Nepaul frontier.—Indian scenery near the border.—Lose our way.—Cold
night.—The river by night.—Our boat and boatmen.—Tigers calling on
the bank.—An anxious moment.—Fire at and wound the tigress.—Reach
camp.—The Nepaulee's adventure with a tiger.—The old Major.—His
appearance and manners.—The pompous Jemadar.—Nepaulese
proverb.—Firing the jungle.—Start a tiger and shoot him.—Another in
front.—Appearance of the fires by night.—The tiger escapes.—Too dark
to follow up.—Coolie shot by mistake during a former hunt.
CHAPTER XXIII. We resume the beat.—The
hog-deer.—Nepaulese villages.—Village granaries.—Tiger in front.—A
hit! a hit!—Following up the wounded tiger.—Find him dead.—Tiffin in
the village.—The Patair jungle. —Search for tiger.—Gone away!—An
elephant steeplechase in pursuit. —Exciting chase.—The Morung
jungle.—Magnificent scenery.—Skinning the tiger.—Incidents of tiger
hunting.
CHAPTER XXIV. Camp of the Nepaulee
chief.—Quicksands.—Elephants crossing rivers. —Tiffin at the
Nepaulee camp.—We beat the forest for tiger.—Shoot a young
tiger.—Red ants in the forest.—Bhowras or ground bees.—The ursus
labialis or long-lipped bear.—Recross the stream.—Florican. —Stag
running the gauntlet of flame.—Our bag.—Start for factory. —Remarks
on elephants.—Precautions useful for protection from the sun in tiger
shooting.—The puggree.—Cattle breeding in India, and wholesale deaths
of cattle from disease.—Nathpore.—Ravages of the river.—Mrs. Gray,
an old resident in the jungles.—Description of her surroundings.
CHAPTER XXV. Exciting jungle scene.—The
camp.—All quiet.—Advent of the cowherds. —A tiger close by.—Proceed
to the spot.—Encounter between tigress and buffaloes.—Strange
behaviour of the elephant.—Discovery and capture of four cubs.—Joyful
return to camp.—Death of the tigress. —Night encounter with a
leopard.—The haunts of the tiger and our shooting grounds.
CHAPTER XXVI. Remarks on guns.—How to cure
skins.—Different recipes.—Conclusion.
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