Reminiscences of Sport in India.

Evening Star, Issue 6862, 27 March 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

Reminiscences of Sport in India.

From Major-General E. F. Burton’s “ Reminiscences of Sport in India ” we extract the following passages: WILD MEN OF THE WOODS. The aborigines of these elephant jungles, yclept “ Pulleers,” arc a strange set of little beings; few of them are over sft in height. They are even more wild than the Ouddapah Yenadces. They are most excellent trackers, and nothing escapes their sharp and accustomed sight. In appearance they arc hideous, and in smell disgusting; with wizen, monkey-like faces and matted locks, and bodies encrusted with dirt, which they arc ever scoring with their bird-like claws. In summer they live beneath the shade of shrubs and trees, and in the rainy and cold season they take up their abode in caves and in clefts of the rocks. They wear nothing but the narrowest of breech-clouts, and are subject to —in rerflity are slaves to—the renters of the jungles, for whom they collect honey, tamarinds, fibres of the “ murrell ” (a root with a small fibre-like leaf), and other forest produe's, receiving as their pay a scanty dole of rice, ebilies, and tobacco. On very great occasions, such as trapping or snaring an animal of value, their master gives them a strip of the coarsest cotton cloth, about three feet long at most, by a foot wide. They value not money. They are much afraid of white faces. When I iirst came to the jungle they would not come near me, though they would accompany my shikarries out tracking. They would not, however, come close to me, and propounded to my shikarry strange questions concerning white men ; whether, for instance, “sahibs” did not out up jungle people for “ massaloh ” (medicine) for their horses whenever they got a chance of doing so. Tim ordinary villagers, likewise, had their own doubts to satisfy. They once asked my shikarry whether his master could not stay at home if he liked. The shikarry said “Yes, he could.” “ Then, can ho not sit down, and lie down all day, and sleep all day, if he likes, in his own house, instead of tiring himself out in the jungles T “Yes.” “Does lie not have his regular meals at homo, at proper times, instead of living from hand to mouth, as we see he docs here ?” “ Then why in the name of all gods, does lie come into this wilderness, and not stay comfortably at home ? Is ho mad 1 He must be mad !” And thus they passed judgment, after reckoning mo up in this stylo. MAN-EATING TIGERS, During the time General Button was at Kamptee he became acquainted with many interesting facts and stories regarding man-eating tigers and panthers. One tiger infested a jungle near Kamptee, and destroyed half the population of some small villages. The scared lemnants of the unhappy villagers at last deserted their homes, and sent for shikarries to destroy the dreadful boast. The story went that this tiger would walk up to a village in broad daylight, enter house after house where doors were open, and, if the houses were deserted and he found no game, would break all the earthen cooking-pots and return, grumbling fiercely, to the jungles. The band of shikarries, three or four in number, perched themselves, well buried in the. thatch, on the roofs of some of the houses in one. of the deserted villages, and for several weary days watched in vain for the arrival of the man-eater. At last their perseverance was rewarded. One evening, just as the last rays of the setting sun threw their gleam on the neglected Holds and gardens of the silent village, the tiger made his appearance, thin and mangy as a man-eater should be. On he came, looking hungrily around, and staring suspiciously at any hush or cover which might hide a man. One hut after another did he enter, and the smashing within of ear them pots and pans betokened his disappointment. At last he came opposite the taller house of the headman of the village. A sharp report, and yet another, and another, from the hiding-place in the roof, and the outwitted man-eater fell over and gasped las last in fury as he saw the exulting shikarries emerge from the loosened thatch. The usual reward for destruction of a man-eater namely, 100 rupees—was paid to the successful shikarries; and very royally did they and their friends celebrate the occasion in a grand drinking bout

when they touched the tiger’s bloodmoney. SXAKKS AM) SXAKE-BITISS. The ravages of wild beasts, and the destruction of human life occasioned by them, are trifling compared with the tumble mortality, which returns for the same two years show to bo due to snake-bites. In LSB2 the number of persons who died of snakebite in all India is set down at 19,511)! It is stated that this is considerably in excess of the number in 1881, the greatest increase having been in the north-west provinces and in Oudo, where In 1882 y,GBO persons were killed, as compared with 5,010 in 1881. In 1881, 43,009 cattle died of snakebite; in 1881, 10,707 were thus destroyed. Now, as to snakes themselves. Rewards for their destruction were paid in some, per haps most, parts of India. No rewards were paid in Madras. In 1881 254,008 snakes wore killed and paid for; in 1882 a great iii'.reaso of destruction took place, and the snakes killed and paid for stand at 322,421 — probably three times the number were also destroyed “ free, .gratis, for nothing.” But there are many things which throw considerable doubt upon the accuracy of the returns of “ deaths by snake-bites,” and which induce the belief that an enormous amount of secret crime, poisoning by other means than snake’s venom especially, is hidden in these returns ; and the murders of women in particular, for family reasons, are of horribly frequent occurrence, and arc conveniently put down to “ snake-bite.” The fact that the “ snake-bite” mortality of human beings is not very far short of one-half that of the cattle is in itself most suggestive. There can be little doubt that in these, and in deaths by drowning in India, a frightful amount of crime lies hidden. A DANGEROUS INSECT. The truly dangerous insect is the largo wild bee, which builds its nest something of the shape and size of a small cart-wheel, on horizontal brandies of trees and under shelves of high rocks. These bees are most irascible, and, if disturbed, will fly out in swarms on the intruders, whether man or beast, and follow them for miles. I once found my tent pitched under a tree upon which was one of these gnat nests, and very uneasy did I feel during that day; fortunately, no lire had been lighted, or the swarm would infallibly have turned out and we might have been chased for miles, leaving the tent and equipage to their pleasure. Several fatal accidents have happened to sportsmen and others who have been so unfortunate as to disturb these insects. The case of two officers is well known, who, at the “ marble rocks ” of Nerbudda River, were attacked and driven into the river, where they were drowned. Many a camp has been attacked anti the horses and bullocks stung to death. Animals, when picketed or tethered, of course fall easy victims. The only way to escape serious injury or death is to wrap one’s self up in a blanket, or anything of the kind which may be at hand, or to plunge into water and splash violently to save such part of the head as may remain exjo :cd ; failing the possibility of either of these expedients, the only chance is to lie down, with face, neck, and hands us much covered as possible, and to remain perfectly still; the bees then may leave the sufferer, thinking that they have finished him.

OBTAINING CONFESSIONS 13Y TORTURE-

officers of any experience or standing in India, says the writer, were, or now are, unaware of the fact that torture is an institution among the Natives. It is used not only for recovery of Government dues, though, owing to the stir made about it, much less so than formerly ; but it is employed by the Native police as a means of eliciting confessions of crimes when other ways fail. Torture is accepted by Natives of India as a legitimate process; even mothers use it in punishing, their children. I well recollect hearing one day, at Cuddapah, the frightful screams of a child at my stables, and finding that the syce’s wife had been punishing her little child by squeezing the juice of chilios (red popper pods) into its eyes. My servants seemed to see no evil in this. It happened, at Cuddapah also, that some money and other things wore stolen from the desk of an officer, and one or two of his servants were apprehended, and, as we afterwards found, put to the “question” by the police. Many years afterwards, at Nagpore, I had some servants examined by the Native police authorities for the theft of a gold ornament, and they told me that they were severely handled by the constables, their lingers tied back, and cars wrung, etc., in order to extract confessions from them. I advised them to complain, but they refused, saying that they were taken one by one into an inner room of the police station, and that there were no witnesses. A CORPS OF AMAZONS. Another city noble YikaroolOomrah, a near relative of the Nizam —gave an occasional party, which was not, however, to bo compared with those given by Sir Salar Jung. The only noteworthy feature in Vikar-00l-Oomrah’s parties was the corps of Amazons, which he maintained as a palace guard, and which, armed with muskets and bayonets, and clad in red jackets and tight trousers, paraded in the courtyard. Being tolerably old and ill-favored to a woman, there was little, at a cursory glance by lamplight, to distinguish them from a company of stunted Sepoys; but they were quickly betrayed by the want of silence in the ranks. No discipline or warlike style or training could keep their tongues quiet, and the gabble was terrific !