a breakfast at six o'clock was provided the following morning for the tourists, and they came down from their chambers prepared for the aquatic excursion, which was to include something more than sight-seeing, for the gentlemen and the boys were directed to take their rifles along. mr. boulong had called upon the commander the evening before, and he had been invited to join the party; but he had excused himself, and suggested that mr. gaskette would enjoy it more than he should, and he was asked to go.
by half-past six the party were on the strand, as the road in the esplanade bordering the river is called. the second officer of the ship was there; and he was not only a sailor and an artist, but he had the reputation of being a dead shot. the company embarked on the steam-yacht, which was large enough to make voyages to madras and ceylon. the excursion was not intended as a mere shooting-party, lord tremlyn explained, but to enable the company to obtain a better view of calcutta than they could get in any other manner.
from the river a full view was obtained of the multitude of columns, belfries, and cupolas, as well as of the government house, the town hall, and the line of magnificent houses beyond the esplanade. along the shore the strand, as it is called the whole length of the city, the jetties, and the landing-stages were crowded with men; for, where labor is so cheap, work is not done by small forces of men. there are several lines of steamers running between london, southampton, and liverpool to this port; and they were constantly arriving and departing.
"you don't see such a variety of races here as you did in bombay," said lord tremlyn as he was pointing out the sights to be seen. "you observe some chinamen and burmese; but most of the laborers are of the low class of natives, bengalese, and they are very sorry specimens of the hindus."
"but what are the merchants and shopkeepers?" asked captain ringgold.
"they are baboos, which is a name given to the bengalese. the better class of them, in contact with the english, realize that education is a power; and they have labored for years to improve their countrymen. they have established schools and colleges, and when young natives applied for government situations the authorities felt obliged to admit them. to-day you will find many natives acting as clerks in the post-office, railway, and telegraph-offices, as well as in the courts in minor capacities.
"in fact, there has been a social revolution in progress here for half a century or more, and its effects may be seen now. the government has modified the lot of woman to some extent, as you have learned. the hindu law weighed terribly upon her. when a woman lost her husband, custom required that she should be sent back to her own family. her relatives shaved off her hair, dressed her in the coarsest clothing, and compelled her to do the severest drudgery of the household. she is forbidden to marry again, and is treated as though she was responsible for becoming a widow. the reforming of this evil is in progress; but the people are baked into their prejudices and superstitions of forty centuries, and it is worse than pulling their teeth to interfere with them.
"one of the favorite divinities of the natives here is kali, the wife of siva, the goddess of murder. her worship is odious and disgusting; for her altars were formerly sprinkled with human blood, and the idols were surrounded with dead bodies and skulls. their great festival is the churuk-pooja, which is still celebrated, though the government has forbidden all its brutal features. you have all seen a 'merry-go-round' machine in which children ride in a circle on wooden horses.
"an apparatus like this, but without the wooden steeds, was used by these fanatics. at the end of the four arms hung ropes with sharp hooks at the end, on which were hung up the devotees, as the butcher does his meats in his shop; and the machine was revolved rapidly till the hooks pulled out, and the victim dropped upon the ground, fainting or dead. at the present time the festival is attended by baboos of the best class; but it amounts simply to an athletic exhibition with music. the government and the reformers have brought about this change of performance."
"do the english attend such shows?" asked dr. hawkes.
"sometimes, from curiosity. but they are here just about what they are in london, and their habits are much the same," replied the viscount. "the river here is about a mile wide. formerly we could not have come as far as we have without seeing hundreds of corpses floating on the surface. natives who were too poor to pay the bill for the funeral pyre threw the bodies of their friends into the river. of course this was a menace to the health of the city; and the practice was forbidden by the government, which built an immense tower, wherein is kept a fire constantly burning, in which the bodies of the poor are consumed without expense."
"see that big bird on the shore!" exclaimed mrs. belgrave. "i saw several of them yesterday, and i meant to ask what it was."
"that is the arghilah, generally called the adjutant," replied sir modava. "he is the licensed scavenger of calcutta, for it is forbidden by law to kill or molest him. you see him walking about in a crowd with as much dignity and gravity as though he were a big banker; and he is also seen perched upon the walls and buildings. they have an enormous bill, as you observe. a friend of mine had a tame one; and one day when the table was ready for dinner he took a chicken from the dish and swallowed it whole. he has a searching eye, and discovers a hidden bit of meat, a dead cat or other animal, and bolts it in the twinkling of an eye."
the steamer continued on her course down the river, and in less than four hours arrived at diamond harbor. it contained a fort, a signal-station, and a telegraph-office, though there is nothing in the shape of a village. the east india company's ships made this their port; but the improvement of the navigation of the river enables all the steamers to go up to the city, to which their arrival is telegraphed.
the extensive territory included in the delta of the ganges is called the sunderbunds, and is about equal to the state of massachusetts in size. it is a muddy region, cut up by a network of streams; and it is full of swamps, morasses, and mud-holes. nearest to the sea is a belt of land, forming a wide extent of jungle, with a dense undergrowth of tropical plants and verdure; for it is in the torrid zone, which the tourists entered about forty miles north of calcutta. this jungle was the objective point of the hunters of the party.
the captain of the steam-yacht took the company on board through a number of the lagoons and cutoffs to enable them to see the wild character of the scenery. lord tremlyn, sir modava, and dr. ferrolan were kept busy explaining the trees, plants, crocodiles, storks, and other animals.
at a pleasant basin, dinner was served on board, and it was quite as good as they would have obtained at the great eastern; for just now the party were government guests, and the officials could not do enough for a person of lord tremlyn's influence in england. after the meal the hunters prepared themselves for the sport in which they were to engage. mrs. belgrave warned her son to be very careful, and mrs. blossom did as much for felix.
the steamer started into a cut-off leading through to the bay of bengal, the polite captain explained. it was full of game of all sorts, including the wild buffalo, rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, wild hog, deer, and the trees and bushes were as full of monkeys as they could swarm. it was agreed among the hunters that none of the latter should be shot, for they were harmless animals.
"captain, dear, are there any schnakes forninst the joongle?" asked the milesian, who was much exhilarated at the prospect of the sport, and easily slipped into the vernacular of his mother.
"plinty av thim, musther mcgavonty," replied captain o'flaherty, with a broad grin on his honest face. "they air as thidck as broken heads at a donnybrook fair."
"faix, ye's air a brither o' moine!" exclaimed felix, grasping the hand of the captain.
"air ye's from the county carhk?"
"oi'm from the county and parish of kilkenny; or mi mudther was, thou' she's dead now, long loife to her! wud i foind ary cobry in here?"
"all you'll want uv 'em; and pythons too."
"what is a poithon?" asked felix.
"a big schnake; a boa, or loike him."
"is it the bore that runs up the river to calcutty?"
"not the same boa," laughed the captain. "but you speak english, for i have heard you do it; and i have about forgotten my native brogue."
"if the boa is a snake, he is the fellow i want to see," replied felix.
"there's one of them now!" exclaimed captain o'flaherty, pointing to one wreathed around a bush.
the young hunter brought his rifle to his shoulder, and fired before the captain had time to say anything more. the python began to writhe and wriggle in the bush, and felix fired again. then he dropped off into the water. the rest of the company had been aft with the ladies, but they all rushed forward at the report of the rifle. the captain stated what the hunter had done, as he rang to stop and back the boat. they saw the bamboo on which the serpent had been, but the game could not be seen. they wondered what had become of him.
the rest of the hunters began to shoot ducks, herons, and other water-fowls. as fast as a bird dropped into the bayou he disappeared, and not one of them could be recovered. captain ringgold wondered what became of them, and the indian gentlemen only laughed at his perplexity.
"but what becomes of them, for they do not sink?" demanded the commander.
"you shall see," replied sir modava. "don't shoot the adjutants; but there is a long-legged heron. i will bring him down, for he waits very patiently to be shot. now watch the water when he comes down."
the bird dropped the moment he fired, and the instant he touched the water a pair of jaws closed upon him, and drew him under water. the company were astonished, and looked for an explanation.
"i never counted the crocodiles in this river; but i should guess there were at least a million of them, and they steal your game as fast as you bring it down," said sir modava.
the ladies were interested; and another bird was shot, to enable them to see the operation of the saurians. the python was about ten feet long, and he must have been a meal for one of them. the cranes, herons, and storks were numerous; but the party decided to kill no more of them, for they held still, as though they were all ready to be shot; and there was no sport in such game.
the boat continued on its course for half an hour longer, and then came up to a sort of stockade, extending out into the water, and near it were a couple of bamboo huts. this wild region is sparsely peopled with hindus, who are obliged to keep guard over themselves and their families all the time, and are occasionally the victims of the ferocious monsters of the jungle and of the water.
"what is that stockade for?" asked the commander, as soon as the steamer was moored to the shore.
"the hindus are a cleanly people, as required by their religion," replied captain o'flaherty in the hearing of all the party. "that stockade contains a big trough for washing their scanty clothing. it reaches into the water, so that they can fill their washtub without going out of it."
"i don't see why?" asked mrs. woolridge.
"if they went to the border of the stream to dip up water the crocodiles would pick them up as fast as they did so," added the captain; and all the ladies shuddered, and wanted to get out of such a horrible place.
"but the hunters are to land here; and they will find all the heavy game they can dispose of, for there have been no hunters here yet this season to scare them off. you will find the biggest tigers of india here, gentlemen."
the hunters went on shore, and as they passed down the gangway they saw a couple of the crocodiles in the water. louis put a bullet into the eye of one, and mr. woolridge served the other in the same way; but all of them thought saurians were mean game. near the huts they found two men, and sir modava had a talk with them, which no one else could understand; but he employed them to guide the party and show them their traps.
"the wife of one of these men was devoured by a crocodile a year ago, and the daughter of the other, a child of six, had been borne off by a tiger," he explained, as they proceeded after the two men.
they soon came to the traps. the tigers were exceedingly numerous on all the islands formed by the cut-offs, and swam without difficulty from one to another. the first trap they saw was a broad trench, the bottom and sides armed with stakes of the hardest wood, sharpened to a wicked point. a roaring sound attracted the visitors to another of the same kind, in which a monstrous tiger was floundering about, trying to escape the points that pierced him. he was suffering fearfully; and captain ringgold shot him at once, though the hindus were delighted by his torture.
another kind of trap was more ingenious. it was on the plan of the twitch-up snare, common in new england. a young tree, very strong and flexible, is bent down till the upper end touches the ground. to this extremity is attached a stout cord, and fastened to a stake in the ground. a slip-noose is so arranged that the tiger thrusts his head through it in order to reach the meat with which the cord holding the tree is baited. as the animal pulls the cord he casts off the line holding the tree in its bent position. the slip-noose is tightened around his neck, the tree flies up into the air, carrying the tiger with it. everything about the trap is made very strong, and there the savage marauder hangs till he chokes to death.
captain ringgold brought down another--page 349
captain ringgold brought down another--page 349
the party moved on, and they had not gone ten rods before a cobra elevated his head. felix claimed the right to fire first, and he killed him with one ball. a large python was scott's first prize; and, after a long walk, they came to a nest of tigers, as it seemed, for there were not less than five of them drinking at a brook. it appeared to be the only place in the vicinity where fresh water could be obtained. the first of the tigers was killed by louis with a single shot, for he put the ball through the eye of the beast.
captain ringgold brought down another with three shots from his repeating rifle. felix did not care for tigers; he was looking for snakes, and they came to the brook to drink. in a couple of hours he had half a dozen of his favorite game. he declared that he was following the blessed example of st. patrick, and if he did not die too soon he would rid the world of all the snakes in it.
the five tigers lay dead by the brook; and, taking the advice of the coolies, the hunters returned into a thicket, where felix killed another python. the party could see the brook. a pair of timid deer came next to drink; but they fled at the approach of what seemed to be a family of leopards, for two of them were evidently cubs. they were all shot; but the repeated reports of the rifles had probably scared off others, and no more beasts of any kind came.
"these men say you have killed more tigers and leopards than any party of hunters who ever came here," said sir modava, who carried a rifle, but had not fired it once; and lord tremlyn's weapon had not been discharged; for both preferred to leave the game for their friends.
it was a great hunt, and the americans were correspondingly proud of their success. louis and felix had been trained in a shooting-gallery, and neither of them missed his aim; but the shooting had all been at short range. with the help of two coolies, all the game was carried to the steamer, where it was exhibited to the rest of the company. the tigers were all skinned by the coolies and the crew of the steamer, as were the leopards; but after mrs. blossom and the others had seen the snakes, they were fed out to the crocodiles. the coolies were abundantly rewarded, and seemed to worship their visitors. they presented to them four mango fish, golden-yellow in color, and exquisite in flavor.
the steamer cast off her fasts, and headed for calcutta; but it was late, and the fish presented, which abound in the markets of the city, were the burden of a fine supper they ate on the way.
