St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-06-12
From Chambers journal.
A Night in the Jungle.

In the year Is WAS Shootin4 III the
kindly district with my friend. Jack
Waldrou. Il SlIhaltcrn in IL regiment ot
Madras Native Infantry. kindly i u
little native town in the north OF the.
Madras Presidency. and l. situated
among some jun"ly hills that have long
been famous foI the game to he found
upon them. The inhabitants are Il far
hand>oner race than the people to he
met with on the plains. and the men
have Il singular practice ot wearing
flow els in their hair. which gives them
II somewhat cifrmimatc appearance. not
unlike that noticeable i'll the natives ut
Ceylnn. Al the time of our vi>ir
which WIS many Years a"n--a Scmi-in-
dependent riiah ruled over the kindly
country. and he WIS supported in his
authority by two companies of our own
native intantry. detached from the
mciglhoring military station of Chica-
cole toi the purpose.
Although buried alive. as ii were. in
the Jungle. the English officers of this
detachment usually preferred kindly
t" headquarters at Chicar"lc. for the
shooting wa> excellent -amd al she me
of which | speak. the cost of living
thcre WAS ahSuldly cheap. y whole
sheep could be purchased foI about IL
shilling Il fowl toy tnurpcncc milk
butter. eggs, etc. fui the mcrcSt triiic
50 that the officers who were thus rus
ticatrd could live very well on Il small
portion of their pay. and lay by the
remainder to purchase steps in the regi-
mcmt. oI to pay oil their debts. accord
Ittr tt ti,.I, Than tha tIi,.E
Jungle that closely cncirclcd the place
WAS full of game. both great and small.
One wa> often awakcd in the morning
10y the growing of the wild .iunglecock>
and the screams of the lcafowl in the
immediate vicinity of the station and
wild hogs would enter the gardens of
the officers at night. and commit sad
havoc with the English vegetables that
planted there. spotted deer. and the
Samhur. or Indian elk. were very nu-
mrr"u> upon the .iungly hills about the
place and bear could generally he
found within ten minutes walk of the
station by those who cared to look for
him with heaters. Lastly. there were
tigers and lcoparl> III these tecming
Jun" les, but these animals were not of
zen met with close ut hand-they pre-
felIed to reside at little distance from
the military.
In such paradise of sport. it might
he supposed that the time would pass
very pleasantly for men fond of shoot
ing: but. unluckily. there WAS one draw
back to the delights of life at kindly,
and that WIS IL very serious onr-thc
sportsman stood moIc than IL fair chance
OF contracting Il jungle fever. This
terrible indian disease stalked as
gloomily and aS stcalthily through the
hot. Stcaming junglcS as the tiger him
self. and few men were so fortunate as
to escape an acquaintance with the
grim distcmper. sooner or later. if their
sporting tastes led them constantly into
the junulcS. Then the victim to fever
would he drenched with quinmc by the
doctor until he was more than hat-dcad,
and such >ingingS in his ears would
arise from the drug as would remind
him of shells placed close to the tym-
panum but spite of every remedy in
the pharmacopTia, the disease would
usually retain il tight hold of the pa
tient unless he could get Il change of
air. and holiday ut the seaside.
Poorec. upon the eastern coast of India.
was the usual place to which invalids
from kindly bcto,k themselves, and Il
very miserable place it WAS to become
comvalcScent in, but then it was the
seaside. and that WAS everything. Let
the reader picture to himself great
waste of glaring yellow sand, diversified
only with IL long line of mounds of the
same arid subst tnce along the sea-shore.
and he will have fair idea of Poorec.
On one of these mounds was perched
that most melancholy looking of archl-
tcctuIal crections, an Indian publlc
bungalow and some old rickety heaps
of brick and mortar in the neighbor-
hood spoke of time long distant. when
the liverlcSs and the weary from Cal
cutta used to visit Pooree occasionally
as IL sort of s;lnitarium. and bathe and
play cards there by turns the llvelong
day. Along the coastline northwardS,
one sees patch of green, with lofty
pagoda towers rising above the trees,
and this is the world-famons JuSSer-
naut. at whose shrine, pilgrims from all
parts of India come to worship i'll thou
sands. carrying cholera with them as
they 90. and spreading the plague over
every road they travel. The great car
of Juggernaut no longer crushes the
life ont of the devOtees but for one
that the car killed in old times, the
cholera slays hundreds in our, and one
shudders at the very sight OF place