40

START FOR THE S. W. FRONTIER.

gazetteer can give that and much more valuable information on the same head, I will not rashly enter into competition with one possessed of so much general information, but refer the curious to its pages, whilst I invite the less particular to accompany me in a journey to the south-western frontier, and I will do my best to entertain my companions.

Hearing that there was no necessity for being in the upper provinces just now, inasmuch as the governor-general, and all India, except the Delhi Gazette, seemed bent to maintain the most profound peace ever known in Hindostan, I gladly seized the opportunity of paying a visit to a valued friend dwelling amongst the jungles of the south-western frontier.

In company with a brother officer, who was travelling the same road, I embarked in a palanquin amidst the torrents of rain which descended in streams, threatening to convert our sturdy little bearers into strong resemblances of water-rats.

We managed, fortunately, to ford the Damooda river before the storm had attained its maximum, or the journey might have been seriously inter

rupted, for during very heavy storms this river is subject to violent inundations, when a rolling column of water, several feet in height, and resembling the bore* on the Ganges, rushes down the river's course, flooding the neighbouring country, and causing many calamities. On the right bank of the Damooda was a shed, which afforded a partial shelter to our exhausted palanquin bearers, and here we rested in hopes of the tempest abating.

About midnight, a lull took place, and we proceeded, the bearers staggering with difficulty through the swamp, which the surrounding country had now become. Travelling that night, and the following day, with the tempest bursting in fitful gusts, we reached the dwelling of an indigo planter, in the lonely jungles, late in the evening, where we were hospitably received, and rested a few hours.

At midnight we proceeded en route, and arrived,

* Though from a different cause, the bore of the Ganges proceeding from spring tides forced up the narrow gorge of the Bay of Bengal; that on the Damooda, from the inundation bursting its obstructions.

42

ENORMOUS SERPENT.

as the day broke, on the bank of a swollen torrent. The primitive mode of crossing, which we were compelled to adopt, was by means of a raft, made of bamboos, bound together, crosswise, over a dozen large earthenware jars.* Trusting to the declared experience of our bearers, we embarked on this singular conveyance, the natives swimming alongside, and safely landing everything on the opposite shore in two or three expeditions. Whilst our bearers were engaged in this manner, I observed, a few yards above the raft, something resembling a rope being dragged across the torrent, and running down to the edge to ascertain what it was, an enormous serpent landed beside me, and departed, without any delay, into the woods. Although the stream was running with great rapidity, he had made nearly a direct course across the torrent.

We proceeded onwards, during the whole day, through a heavy jungle, scarcely meeting with any human abode-except the small sheds where our relay of bearers awaited us, at the end of

*If there happen to be rocks in the stream, a strike is apt to prove fatal to the raft.

each stage of ten or twelve miles-whilst the storm of rain continued with unabated vigour. At nightfall we reached another torrent, or nullah, as they are called in India, where our progress seemed altogether arrested, for it proved to be more than ten feet deep, was running like a sluice, and no raft of any kind was procurable; nor did our attendants seem disposed to make any attempts; they remarked that an indigo shed was close at hand, and that we should be all drowned if we attempted to cross. Then patiently seating themselves, they looked steadily in our faces to await the decision. The choice was not a matter of difficulty; we preferred the indigo shed to being drowned, hoping that by daybreak the waters might in some degree subside.

The ancients indulged their mirth at the simplicity of the

"Rusticus expectans dum defluat amnis."

Yet the inhabitants of India have been pretty often constrained to adopt the practice.

The indigo shed, after some demur on the part of the native in charge, was opened for the recep

tion of our palanquins and travelling cases, which had long since been thoroughly soaked. We soon found that we were not destined to be the sole tenants of the shed, for the swarms of mosquitoes exceeded any display of the kind I had seen before. We obtained a jar of charcoal to boil the kettle for our frugal meal of tea and biscuits, which soon produced a suffocating sensation. We left, in hopes of being rid of our tormentors by this expedient; but they had not apparently the same objections as ourselves, and were buzzing with renewed delight and welcome on seeing us return. In vain we closed the doors of our palanquins, and nearly stifled ourselves with heat; our active enemies forced a passage through the crevices of the blinds; they would not be baulked of their rightful food, and it was evident that a white victim was no ordinary delicacy.

We anxiously watched for the break of day, and when the dawn was perceptible, arose from our restless mats, stirred up the sleeping establishment, and proceeded to the banks of the nullah. The weather had moderated a little, and,