[Illustration: _Frontispiece_. TIGER HUNTING. RETURN TO THE CAMP.]
SPORT AND WORK
ON THE
NEPAUL FRONTIER
OR
TWELVE YEARS SPORTING REMINISCENCES
OF AN INDIGO PLANTER
By "MAORI"
1878
[Note: Some words in this book have a macron over a vowel. A macron
is a punctuation mark ( - ) and is represented herein as [=a], [=e]
or [=o].]
PREFACE.
I went home in 1875 for a few months, after some twelve years' residence
in India. What first suggested the writing of such a book as this, was
the amazing ignorance of ordinary Indian life betrayed by people at
home. The questions asked me about India, and our daily life there,
showed in many cases such an utter want of knowledge, that I thought,
surely there is room here for a chatty, familiar, unpretentious book
for friends at home, giving an account of our every-day life in India,
our labours and amusements, our toils and relaxations, and a few
pictures of our ordinary daily surroundings in the far, far East.
Such then is the design of my book. I want to picture to my readers
Planter Life in the Mofussil, or country districts of India; to tell
them of our hunting, shooting, fishing, and other amusements; to
describe our work, our play, and matter-of-fact incidents in our daily
life; to describe the natives as they appear to us in our intimate
every-day dealings with them; to illustrate their manners, customs,
dispositions, observances and sayings, so far as these bear on our own
social life.
I am no politician, no learned ethnologist, no sage theorist. I simply
try to describe what I have seen, and hope to enlist the attention and
interest of my readers, in my reminiscences of sport and labour, in the
villages and jungles on the far off frontier of Nepaul.
I have tried to express my meaning as far as possible without Anglo-Indian
and Hindustani words; where these have been used, as at times they could
not but be, I have given a synonymous word or phrase in English, so that
all my friends at home may know my meaning.
I know that my friends will be lenient to my faults, and even the
sternest critic, if he look for it, may find some pleasure and profit in
my pages.
JAS. INGLIS.
CONTENTS.
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.--Has 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.--Claw-marks
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 cow-herds.
--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.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Tiger Hunting--Return to the Camp
Coolie's Hut
Indigo Beating Vats
Indigo Beaters at work in the Vat
Indian Factory Peon
Indigo Planter's House
Pig Stickers
Carpenters and Blacksmiths at work
Hindoo Village Temples
CHAPTER I.
Province of Behar.--Boundaries.--General description.--District of
Chumparun.--Mooteeharree.--The town and lake.--Native houses.--The
Planters' Club.--Legoulie.
Among the many beautiful and fertile provinces of India, none can, I
think, much excel that of Behar for richness of soil, diversity of
race, beauty of scenery, and the energy and intelligence of its
inhabitants. Stretching from the Nepaul hills to the far distant
plains of Gya, with the Gunduch, Bogmuttee and other noble streams
watering its rich bosom, and swelling with their tribute the stately
Ganges, it includes every variety of soil and climate; and its various
races, with their strange costumes, creeds, and customs, might afford
material to fill volumes.
The northern part of this splendid province follows the Nepaulese
boundary from the district of Goruchpore on the north, to that of
Purneah on the south. In the forests and jungles along this boundary
line live many strange tribes, whose customs, and even their names and
language, are all but unknown to the English public. Strange wild
animals dispute with these aborigines the possession of the gloomy
jungle solitudes. Great trees of wondrous dimensions and strange
foliage rear their stately heads to heaven, and are matted and
entwined together by creepers of huge size and tenacious hold.
To the south and east vast billows of golden grain roll in successive
undulations to the mighty Ganges, the sacred stream of the Hindoos.
Innumerable villages, nestling amid groves of plantains and feathery
rustling bamboos, send up their wreaths of pale grey smoke into the
still warm air. At frequent intervals the steely blue of some lovely
lake, where thousands of water-fowl disport themselves, reflects from
its polished surface the sheen of the noonday sun. Great masses of
mango wood shew a sombre outline at intervals, and here and there the
towering chimney of an indigo factory pierces the sky. Government
roads and embankments intersect the face of the country in all
directions, and vast sheets of the indigo plant refresh the eye with
their plains of living green, forming a grateful contrast to the hard,
dried, sun-baked surface of the stubble fields, where the rice crop
has rustled in the breezes of the past season. In one of the loveliest
and most fertile districts of this vast province, namely, Chumparun, I
began my experiences as an indigo planter.
Chumparun with its subdistrict of Bettiah, lies to the north of
Tirhoot, and is bounded all along its northern extent by the Nepaul
hills and forests. When I joined my appointment as assistant on one
of the large indigo concerns there, there were not more than about
thirty European residents altogether in the district. The chief town,
Mooteeharree, consisted of a long _bazaar_, or market street, beautifully
situated on the bank of a lovely lake, some two miles in length. From
the main street, with its quaint little shops sheltered from the sun
by makeshift verandahs of tattered sacking, weather-stained shingles,
or rotting bamboo mats, various little lanes and alleys diverged,
leading one into a collection of tumble-down and ruinous huts, set up
apparently by chance, and presenting the most incongruous appearance
that could possibly be conceived. One or two _pucca_ houses, that is,
houses of brick and masonry, shewed where some wealthy Bunneah
(trader) or usurious banker lived, but the majority of the houses were
of the usual mud and bamboo order. There is a small thatched hut where
the meals were cooked, and where the owner and his family could sleep
during the rains. Another smaller hut at right angles to this, gives
shelter to the family goat, or, if they are rich enough to keep one,
the cow. All round the villages in India there are generally large
patches of common, where the village cows have free rights of pasture;
and all who can, keep either a cow or a couple of goats, the milk from
which forms a welcome addition to their usual scanty fare. In this
second hut also is stored as much fuel, consisting of dried cow-dung,
straw, maize-stalks, leaves, etc., as can be collected; and a ragged
fence of bamboo or _rahur_[1] stalks encloses the two unprotected
sides, thus forming inside a small court, quadrangle, or square. This
court is the native's _sanctum sanctorum_. It is kept scrupulously
clean, being swept and garnished religiously every day. In this the
women prepare the rice for the day's consumption; here they cut up and
clean their vegetables, or their fish, when the adjacent lake has been
dragged by the village fishermen. Here the produce of their little
garden, capsicums, Indian corn, onions or potatoes--perchance turmeric,
ginger, or other roots or spices--are dried and made ready for storing
in the earthen sun-baked repository for the reception of such produce
appertaining to each household. Here the children play, and are washed
and tended. Here the maiden combs out her long black hair, or decorates
her bronzed visage with streaks of red paint down the nose, and a
little antimony on the eyelids, or myrtle juice on the finger and toe
nails. Here, too, the matron, or the withered old crone of a
grandmother, spins her cotton thread; or, in the old scriptural
hand-mill, grinds the corn for the family flour and meal; and the
father and the young men (when the sun is high and hot in the heavens)
take their noonday _siesta_, or, the day's labours over, cower round
the smoking dung fire of a cold winter night, and discuss the prices
ruling in the bazaar, the rise of rents, or the last village scandal.
In the middle of the town, and surrounded by a spacious fenced-in
compound, which sloped gently to the lake, stood the Planters' Club, a
large low roofed bungalow, with a roomy wide verandah in front. Here
we met, when business or pleasure brought us to 'the Station.' Here
were held our annual balls, or an occasional public dinner party. To
the north of the Club stood a long range of barrack-looking buildings,
which were the opium godowns, where the opium was collected and stored
during the season. Facing this again, and at the extremity of the
lake, was the district jail, where all the rascals of the surrounding
country were confined; its high walls tipped at intervals by a red
puggree and flashing bayonet wherever a jail sepoy kept his 'lonely
watch.' Near it, sheltered in a grove of shady trees, were the court
houses, where the collector and magistrate daily dispensed justice, or
where the native _moonsiff_ disentangled knotty points of law. Here,
too, came the sessions judge once a month or so, to try criminal cases
and mete out justice to the law-breakers.
We had thus a small European element in our 'Station,' consisting of
our magistrate and collector, whose large and handsome house was built
on the banks of another and yet lovelier lake, which joined the town
lake by a narrow stream or strait at its southern end, an opium agent,
a district superintendent of police, and last but not least, a doctor.
These formed the official population of our little 'Station.' There
was also a nice little church, but no resident pastor, and behind the
town lay a quiet churchyard, rich in the dust of many a pioneer, who,
far from home and friends, had here been gathered to his silent rest.
About twelve miles to the north, and near the Nepaul boundary, was the
small military station of Legoulie. Here there was always a native
cavalry regiment, the officers of which were frequent and welcome
guests at the factories in the district, and were always glad to see
their indigo friends at their mess in cantonments. At Rettiah, still
further to the north, was a rich rajah's palace, where a resident
European manager dwelt, and had for his sole society an assistant
magistrate who transacted the executive and judicial work of the
subdistrict. These, with some twenty-five or thirty indigo managers
and assistants, composed the whole European population of Chumparun.
Never was there a more united community. We were all like brothers.
Each knew all the rest. The assistants frequently visited each other,
and the managers were kind and considerate to their subordinates.
Hunting parties were common, cricket and hockey matches were frequent,
and in the cold weather, which is our slackest season, fun, frolic,
and sport was the order of the day. We had an annual race meet, when
all the crack horses of the district met in keen rivalry to test their
pace and endurance. During this high carnival, we lived for the most
part under canvass, and had friends from far and near to share our
hospitality. In a future chapter I must describe our racing meet.
[1] The _rahur_ is a kind of pea, growing not unlike our English broom
in appearance; it is sown with the maize crop during the rains,
and garnered in the cold weather. It produces a small pea, which
is largely used by the natives, and forms the nutritive article of
diet known as _dhall_.