A JUNGLE PROVINCE OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 30, 21 April 1911, Page 2

A JUNGLE PROVINCE OF CENTRAL INDIA.

(By Lieutenant-Colonel G. D. Carleton in “English Illustrated' Magazine.”) The British Empire in India extends over a territory greater than the continent of Europe exclusive of :Russia. Many of its large but poor | provinces remain almost, unknown, j In addition to the great d'.stc.n;e3 to be travelled to reach them there is little to attract strangers to their sometimes almost impenetrable recesses. They are without history or commerce, and are, therefore, seldom seen by anyone outside the official circle of Government servants. Almost in the centre of the triangle formed hy the railways that connect Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay is situated one such province. This is the feudatory state of Bastar, a veritable backwater in the stream of civilisation that flows- around and joins up the three great seaports of India. For euphony I will call the state Marialand, hut ir( fact it i 3 so styled in some old maps, this name being adapted from the tribe of Marias that live in the Mar or mountainous portion of the state. It might, however, have been appropriately called Murialand,, since a kindred tribe, the Marias, arc in occupation of the rest of the country. Tho chief of Marialand might fitly be termed a forest king. The state is the forest. In area it I measures thirteen thousand square miles. One is inclined to ask what this represents as compared with England. I had no idea. So with the help of Whitaker, I ascertained it to he equal to the nine large counties that lie south of the Thames) between Land’s End and the Nore. ■ Imagine the whole of this covered with trees, and some idea of the nature of this Murialand may be obtained. But it would be a mistake to continue the comparison,! since tho land is as thinly peopled as the greater part of India is overcrowded. . To tfc exact, the population of the state does not exceed three to the square mile outside the few large villages in which dwell the district ■ staff. Marias and Murias are aborir ginal tribes, off-shoots from the - great Gond tribes to the north-west. Here in the depths ©f the forest they ‘ have stagnated from time immemori- , all Invasion after invasion swept • through Hindustan, but they have remained almost unmolested to share ; the solitude of the fever-stricken ! wilderness with the tiger and the i buffalo. At the present day they are perhaps the least khown of the many indigenous tribes o-f the Indian penin--1 sula.

During a recent “cold weather” I happened to pass a short time in the land of the Marias. Entering it from the north, one must first traverse the territory of the state of Ranker. I was induced to break my journey at his capital. I did not regret the delay. I saw a native Court in miniature. The newly built Hall of Audience was shown with great pride. It was decorated with Cassell’s coloured pictures of the Boer war. Then conducted by the prime minister, the palace, the gaol, and some well-kept gardens were inspected. Afterwards the stables must be seen. Here some fat mares and Worses, sleek white driving, bullocks, square-headed fighting rams, and four large elephants passed in view. Finally I was admitted toi an interview -with the very genial old Raja, and after the usual sort of- entertainment a stranger might expect, and the ‘“pan” and betel nut bad been handed round, departed with so much scent on my clothes that they could never be worn again.

There were other interesting people in Ranker. Near my camp was one of those strange and mysterious beings, a wandering “Yogi" or “Bairagi,” He had been over eight years in a British regiment of Ghoorkhas as a private soldier, and very proud to tell it, although hci presented a most unsoldierly appearance. Thick matted hair hung below his shoulders, 1 a strip of cloth round the waist; his only covering ; a thick coating of ashes rendered face and emaciated body a ghastly white. A few simple remedies for fever tied up in a knot and a pieee of iron to tend the fire, were all his worldly possessions. What could have induced this young soldier to leave an honourable profession, such as the Government service is regarded in India, to wander naked about the country ? The Hindus themselves acknowledge that many of these fanatics do not undertake their life of asceticism from motives of the purest order. Such an object makes one realise how far the Bast is from the West. As I watched 1 him by day surrounded by admiring crowds, or listened by night to him calling on his gods in dismal bowlings, it occurred to me that in one of the weaknesses of humanity the East may be very close to the West. Vanity one of our keenest observers has declared to be perhaps the most universal principle of human actions, and here in this, case may be an illustration of his cynical dictum. Beyond Ranker the country becomes wilder. Native huts are found stockaded against savage animals. The main road is left, and a few marches brings one into the heart of the Maria wilderness.