The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1856-01-04

: den and brief twilight Of our Indian clime
Q had come and gone while remained in tn,
Q underground hut, which, indeed, found Il
be on the very borders Of the plain, hidder
amongst the last thicket of the jungle. W.
} had not gone mile Of the six which wa,
told l had to proceed, before my little guide,
tumbling over something in the narrow
pathway, fell, cutting his right knee agains,
a stone. / had fortunately the East India
sportsman's usual supply of diachyon about
me, which applied to the wound; but as
the poor child walked with difficulty and
seemed anxious to return, made him de-
scribe the direction I was to pursue, and
dismissed him, enriched beyond all former
Experience in the possession of a rupee. He
told me had but to follow the straight for
ward track to reach my place of encamp-
iment, and | did not think II likely that /
could diverge from the one limited plain into
any more rugged and unbeatcn. There was
no moon as yet, and the wide, open plain,
here and there intersected by slight gravelly
nyines, the summer-dricd beds Of theme
tain torrents in the monsoon, and here and
there tuft of bushes or clump of trees,
seemed almost boundless. Behind me ]
could still define the dusky shadows of woods
and hills, but in front all was level vacancy,
except far in advance, where twinkling light
denoted the nisht-frc of pilgrim, the hab-
itation Of man, or the shrine of n faquir.
This was the point given me to march upon,
and whilst it lasted all went we'll; but it
soon disappeared, and ! saw it no more.
All the sounds and sensations peculiar to
an Asiatic night, were gathered around me
as l proceeded. The air was agrceably
cool, myriad of insects, born to darkness,
filled the atmosphere; the fetid green bug
stuck in my hair, mosquitoes buzzcd hum
grily about my ears, and large, white wing
ed moths, with obtusc pertinacity, mistook
my eyes for some luminous food; crickets
and gnsshoppcrs chirped loudly around, oc-
casionally night owl hooted across the
waste, and as crossed a small runnel of
water, flock of huge white herons, called
paddi-birds, from their frequenting the wet
paddi, or rice fields, rose simultaneously
from their drink, looking as they flew lazily
away, like troop of ghosts in snow shrouds.
There was the boom of bittern, and the
croak of many bull-frogs; and, by and by,
beautiful in the pitchy darkness that pre-
celes the rising Of the moon, the sky was
thronged with fro flies. They danced and
cleaned and glittercd around me, like float
ing gems they dcckcd the trees of a tOye or
grove, through which | passed, till every
branch seemed festooned with fairy lamps,
every leaf dcwed with drops of diamonds,
rubies, and emeralds; and | paused in mute
adpiration, to look at them. Suddenly, as
suScrlly astiry- y-fmt appeared before, and
eff swayod by some inscrutible policy of
their own, they vanished, and all again was
again obscurity. Indeed, it was now so
dark, that knew the moon must soon rise,
and feeling certain security in remaining
still, resolved to wait till the night grew
lighter.
| l had descended slight sandy de6lc, and
was seated on hank, near the little rill
which in breadth was not yard across
The delicious GOODNESS of the breeze, the rich
odor that came waited from the golden bios
SONS of some babools (gumarabic trecs) near
me, the disappearance of the annoying in
sects, and considerable degree of fatigue,
combined to browse my faculties, and was
supinely yielding to the irresistible clasp Of
slumbcr, when all at once, something hur-
ried past me, whirring sort of noise was
heard, some sharp substance struck me pain
fully on my extended leg, a sound as of the
Gathering of many rods struck together in
quick succession followed, and all was again
silent. In violent terror, / put my hand to
my leg, and found that, in truth, something
had pierced through my trowsers, for blood
was running from the wound.
/ could see nothing from the ground
Could it be an arrow? Nay it was the ncw-
ly dropped quill ola porcupine. The ami
nal SO rarely seen, had come to drink, and,
in an unexpected contact with my leg, had
been deprived of quill; one of those beau
tiful dotted quilts, (which the expert ma
tives of some parts Of India make such clc-
CAN'T work-boxes.
1t was still dark, though the pitchy dark
ness of the atmosphere had subsidcd. j,
however, deemed it advisable to remove from
the proximity of the water; and creeping
upon the plain, threw myself down upon the
dry, crisped grass, where contrived for a
few minutes to keep awake, but alas IA
word which the clever young author of
/" Eothcn" says is never spoken, but often
written just as I was conscious of a coming
grey to the skies, the god of sleep was too
strong for me, attacked me and 1succumbed.
No doubt oft; Islept soundly-swcetly !;
no doubt Off it. Ihave never since then slept
in the open air either soundly or swcetly, for
the awakening was full of horror. Before l
was fully awake, however, had strange
perception OF danger which tied me down
to the earth, warning me against all motion.
knew that there was shadow creeping
over me, beneath which to lie in dumb mac
ton, was the wisest resource. l felt that
my lower extremeties were being invaded by
! the coils Of living chain, but as If q provi-
Dental opiate had been infused into my sys-
TEN, preventing oil movements of thew or
sincw, knew not till was awake that an
enormous serpent covered the whole OF my
neither limbs up the the knees.