On the Indian Hills

NATURALLY enough, the work that fell upon me after R---'s compulsory absence in hospital at Palghaut was very hard. At five o'clock each morning it was necessary to be up and have the great bell rung, and then came the mustering of the coolies, and the setting them their various tasks. This would have been nearly an impossibility, without a knowledge of Tamil and Canarese, but for the assistance of the half-caste, who interpreted my orders. Then, from 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I was continually on the move, hurrying hither and thither, scrambling about the clearings, pushing through the jungles, and making myself as "numerous" as possible. For this sort of work it is, of course, hopeless to use a horse, as the ground is much too rough and obstructed, and riding in the jungle, except just in the beaten track, is out of the question, on account of the creepers and bamboos.

At half-past twelve there occurred a brief interval of rest for breakfast, during which our tapal, or running postman, from the plains, arrived, and some of the time had to be devoted to reading and answering letters, private and on business; and then, all writing finished, and the necessary orders for food and the wants of the estate having been sent to the native agents in Palghaut and Wallenghay, the postman put his little wicker-basket on his head, and set out again for the lowlands.

The endurance of these men is something wonderful. We had four in our service, and every day one of them came up with our post, etc. They arranged that one man should start from Palghaut immediately on the arrival of the early morning mail, with letters, papers, butter, eggs, and occasionally clean clothes or something of the kind, all packed into a small basket, weighing perhaps five or six pounds, and carried on his head. He ran the whole eleven miles to Wallenghay by every short cut he knew of, and as fast as he could go. At Wallenghay he found another tapal waiting, and transferred the basket; whereupon the second man "made tracks" for the jungle, and his was the hardest stage, for he had to face the ghaut road, with its tiger-haunted glens and unholy places. Only stopping perhaps to drink and pray for a minute or two by some brook-side, he gained the mountain tops, and arrived at my bungalow about one o'clock. Then, as previously mentioned, while the man sat on his heels in the verandah and chewed a little betel-nut, I was writing the answers to the correspondence he had brought up, and when they were finished the basket was refilled with anything that had to be returned to the plains, and the tapal salaamed and started away again for the ghaut road. He generally managed to reach Wallenghay the same evening, whence my correspondence was taken to Palghaut in time for the early post to Madras and the rest of India the next morning. Thus the man who had Wallenghay to Pardagherry stage (and each of our four men took it regularly in turn) had to do sixteen miles uphill with a heavy weight on his head, and then sixteen miles downhill again, between ten in the morning and sunset. As might be expected, they were models of good training, without an ounce of superfluous fat anywhere about them; and, as their clothing consisted of a long strip of white cloth wound round and round the waist, and hanging down to the knees, it was possible to study the muscles of the human body, as shown forth under their smooth copper-colored skin, to great advantage.

After the arrival and departure of the tapal -- the event of the day in these lonely wilds -- there was always another long spell of work to be done during the afternoon, and this was the hottest and most fatiguing part of the toil, made especially trying by the fact that the coolies were by this time nearly spent, and the greatest exertions were necessary, in our wilderness-like clearing, to get any work out of them. So by the hour the sun was sinking amongst the tree-tops in the west, and the great bell was tolling to recall every one, I was generally very glad to hear it. On getting back to the settlement, roll-call had to be gone through, the sick attended, the horse watched while he fed, in order that the ghora-wallah might not steal the grain, and the tools issued in the morning received back and counted, all of which made rest, and then dinner, very welcome.