Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier Twelve Years Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo Planter   By: James Inglis (1845-1908)

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.