The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-03-04 00:00:00

THE PRINCE OF WALES IN INDIA.

The following is from the interesting letter of the Special
Correspondent of The Times, under date, Mundia Ghat,
February 27 :
"The Nepaul excursion has bees 2 most interesting
and successful. We are now in the south-western part
of the kingdom, in districts which belonged to Oude,
but which were ceded to Nepaul by Lord Canning in
recognition of the services rendered during the Mutiny.
Although Sir Jung Bahadoor, in his speeches ex-
pressed the warmest attachment to the Queen and
Great Britain, and with much earnestness assured the
Prince of Wales that if the occasion arose we might
rely on every assistance Nepaul could give,- it was
observed that he used no words to imply that he con-
sidered it the duty of the Nepaulese GovernmAntite
do so, and that, while he declared himself in the-nains
of the Maharajah the most humble ally and servant of
the Quern, be did not speak of Nepaul as a feudatory{
This is worth noticing, because it was said by some
that the Hindee words he employed really meant
'dependent State.' He has expressed his intention of
visiting England speedily, and he would have gone
there last year but for an accident. His relations
with the Chinese Government and the position of
Nepaul render the Prime Minister a pannage of very
considerable interest to our statesmen.
"The preparations made to secure sport for the
Prince have been most costly, extensive, and thought-
ful, and the expense to the Nepaulese Government
considerable, but they think that they are most amply
compensated for all by the honour of entertaining the
Shahzadah of England, and of welcoming such a guest
within the 'Maharajah's dominions. There are two
regiments of soldiers 83 guards. The Maharajah's
band, too, plays every evening. All the best elephants
for fighting or sporting, and an array of some 5,000
camp followers' heaters, and porters, constituting an
army in itself, have been provided. There is also a
field battery with the camp. The British troops were
left on the right bank of the Sarda. There is a Goorkhai
guard over the Prince's tent and person. A Nepanlesei
officer, with drawn sword, paces up and down before!
his quarters, and Nepaulese sentries surround the camp,'
and protect the Royal Standard hoisted wherever
the Prince of Wales is present, and now floating here.
It was this confidence which Sir Jung Bahadoor
pointedly alluded to when he declared that the great-
ness of the honour done to the Maharajah and of the
compliment paid to Nepaul was enhanced by the
manner in which the Prince had unrrservedly truP,,ed
himself to their care. The country is exactly like the
Britisja, Terai, which has just been traversed, but the
populAion, BO far as any people are to be seen, is quite
different. The Natives are very independent, and do
not seem to hold Sahib Logue in any awe. In fact,
they positively decline to hold horses or do what they
are told by tts unless they are also ordered by their own
authorities.

"The number of tigers killed shows how plentiful
the beasts are. Saturday was a blank day, for the
Prince and his party returned to camp without having
had any sport, though led by Sir Jung himsen. It
appears that the camp elephants and camels had got on
the ground and spoilt the shooting. The second party,
which went out for general shooting, in charge of. Mr.
Moore, magistrate of Bareilly, was more fortunate.
In beating across a grassy plain they came upon a fine
tiger, which was making for the jungle, when Mr.
Moore fired at and hit it. As they closed on in pur-
suit, the tiger turned on the elephants, sprang on the
head and side of Mr. Robinson's, placing one claw on
the rifle so that he could not fire, and the other on
the howdah door, and tearing the mahout's leg. The
elephant swung around, the howdah door flew open,
and the tiger fell off, but sprang at the elershant
again and clawed it cruelly, till it was kicked off by
the frightened beast. It then leaped up at once
on the head of Colonel Ellis's elephant, and was tearing
the mahout down, when Colonel Ellis, leaning down
over the howdat, coolly fired, with the muzzle almost
touching the tiger, which dropped dying on the ground,
but not till it had lacerated the man's knee and leg.
Surgeon Kellett dressed the man's wounds on the spot,
and the injured elephants were sent back to camp.
Another tiger was started, and killed in the open half-
an-hour afterwards. Indian sportsmen pride then
selves on stopping a tiger before it can injure mahout
or elephant; but in the present case the grass was so
long, and the charges were so sudden, that it was
scarcely possible to do so. All this took but a few
seconds, and was most exciting while it lasted.

"The greatest sport enjoyed by the Prince, and
which all the party shared in, was on Friday last,
when a wild elephant was captured after a day's sport
full of interest and hard work. The mode of taking
elephants is peculiar to Nepaul. Trained elephants,
famous for fightieg prowess, are kept on purpose, and
when a herd of wild ones are marked down in the
jungle, hunters go out with an army of beaters on swift
pad elephants and try to break up the herd or to close
on them, so as to allow time for the fighting elephants
to come up and engage the wild champions till they
are exhausted or are hobbled with ropes as they are
engaged in combat. News came that a very savage
old tusker was in the wooda about seven miles
away, and Sir Jung Bahadoor made arrangements
to have him watched for the Prince of Wales, who
started with Sir Jung and his suite about eight on
Friday morning on horseback, and rode at first through
a most charming forest towards the scene of action.
The path, winding under the shade of magnificent
saul, peepul, and mango trees, interlaced by gigantic
creepers and climbing plants, was guarded by soldiers
at intervals for all the way. At ten the party, which
was led by Sir Jung, riding boldly and well down the
river-beds, across torrents and water-cuts, halted, and
news was brought. in that the old male elephant
was only a few miles off, and was coaling down
towards the plain from the wooded hills above us.
The Prince, splendidly mounted on one of Sir Jung's
arabs, fortunately resolved to remain on horseback
instead of getting on a pad elephant, as was
proposed by Sir Jung. Ihe fighting elephants
were sent for, but the huge creatures travel slowly,
and it was more than an hour before the word was
given to mount. Another rattling canter brought the
Prince to the wide bed of a river, in which a torrent
ran over a stony bed, issuing from a wooded gorge
in the mountains close at hand, and it was hoped
the elephant would descend by this route, and be
fought with and overcome in the open. The hors,s
were sent back the same way. The Prince took a
seat on the hill side. Soldiers were sent up the
ravine. In half an hour Sir Jung jumped on a
man's back, and was carried down the hill side and
to the opposite side of the ravine to see the cause
of the delay. He came back in the same way, with
the news that the elephant had broken out, and
was coming down another ravine, which we had
crossed before passing the river. Mount and away
again was the order, and this time at full speed.
It was wonderful how the horses kept their feet,
with sudden checks at deep nullahs, filled with
boulders, stumps, fallen tiees, and like obstacles.
ano anxious lest the elephant
very
party dismounted on the side of the ravine indi-
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and, the Prince and Sir Jung leading, dashed off
once more, careering alongside of the pad elephants,
which were being urged at full speed on the track
of the runaway. In half an hour the party emerged
from a wood on the plain of burnt reeds and grass,