2n<i S. N" 112., Feu. 20. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



153 



CHILDBEN NUBTUBED BT WOLVES IN INDIA. 

 (1" S. X. 62.) 



In "N. & Q." for July 22, 1854, was inserted 

 an analysis of a pamphlet published by the late Col. 

 Sleeman, which contained several narratives of 

 children nurtured by wolves in various parts of 

 the country of Oude. It was then shown that these 

 stories rest on insufficient evidence, and a sugges- 

 tion was made that further inquiries after more 

 authentic testimony, and an examination by me- 

 dical or scientific authorities, were desirable. No 

 further light, in the way either of' confirmation or 

 exposure, of these marvellous tales has, however, 

 been since obtained. A late nupiber of the Il- 

 lustrated News furnishes the following account : — 



" An English traveller, wlio visited the menagerie of 

 the King of Oude some years ago, relates his having seen 

 in a cage adjoining that of some tigers a mammiferous 

 animal of the genus homo, or something very nearly allied 

 to it : the keeper pointed it out to him as a junglee Tie 

 admee, or wild man, a biped which for many years had 

 been one of the chief ornaments of the menagerie, and 

 whose habits were perfectly similar to its four-footed com- 

 panions. Mute as the hyena of the adjoining cage, he 

 never failed, like his neighbour the tiger, to take a siesta 

 regularly after his repast on raw flesh. This denizen of 

 the woods had been found in a wolf's lair in the depths of a 

 forest on the frontiers of the kingdoms of Oude and Ne- 

 paul. The wolves, which abound in these countries, often 

 carry off children from the villages, but the little captives 

 do not always fall a prey to the tooth of their captor. 

 Many instances are recorded of children being carried off 

 by a she-wolf to her cubs, all the habits of which (poor 

 humanity !) the little stranger acquired. An officer in the 

 Company's service related to me the following story in 

 connection with these Indian Romuluses, which I give 

 the reader without comment : — 



" ' In the village of Chnpray, to the east of Sultanpore, 

 lived a man and his wife, with their child of three years. 

 In March, 1843, the family went out one morning to 

 work in the fields. The child had a large scar on its 

 right cheek, the consequence of a burn it had suffered in 

 falling into the fire some months before. The parents 

 were at their work, and the child was rolling about on the 

 grass at some distance, when a wolf rushed upon it from 

 the adjacent jungle, seized it by the back, and galloped 

 off with it, in spite of the pursuit and cries of the parents. 

 For several days search was made, under the direction of 

 the father, by his friends and neighboui-s, but in vain, and 

 at length all hope was abandoned of finding any trace of 

 the lost child. Six years elapsed without the mother 

 (who had lost her husband in the interval) hearing any- 

 thing of her child. In the month of February, 1849, 

 two sepoys, who had come on furlough to the town of 

 Singramow, near Chupraj', left home one fine morning to 

 ramble on the banks of the little river which runs through 

 the village. Sitting by the water-side, and enjoying tlie 

 breeze, thej' all at once saw, to their amazement, three 

 young wolves in company with a little boy, steal cau- 

 tiously out of the jungle to the river, where they quenched 

 their thirst. The sepoys, recovering from their first 

 amazement, ran off in pursuit of the little troop, and suc- 

 ceeded in capturing the child just as he was creeping into 

 a cave where the three wolf-cubs had preceded him. He 

 tried at first to defend himself with his teeth against his 

 captors, but the latter held him tight, and took him to 

 their lodgings, where they fed him for three weeks on 



raw flesh and game. At last, finding the cost of keeping 

 him too heavy, they resolved to take him to the Khole- 

 poor Bazaar, where some charitable persons had promised 

 to undertake his support. A labourer from Chuprah, 

 who saw the little boy at the bazaar, related, on his re- 

 turn to the village, the particulars of his capture by 

 the sepoys, and thus the story reached the ears ^f his 

 mother. She lost no time in going to the bazar, and 

 at once recognised on the child's body, not only the 

 scar on the cheek, and that left by the wolPs teeth on his 

 back, but also a mark on the thigh which he had at his 

 birth. Satisfied of the identity of the poor creature, she- 

 took him back with her to the village, where all her 

 neighbours instantly recognised the boy. For many 

 months the mother endeavoured by assiduous care to 

 bring her child back to human ways and habits ; but her 

 efforts were all in vain, and at last, in disgust, she re- 

 solved to abandon him to public charity. The child was 

 then received by the servants of the officer who told me 

 this strange history, and they treated him as they would 

 have done a wild dog. Thus he continued to live for 

 about a year ; his body exhaled a very disagreeable 

 odour; his knees and elbows were hardened like hoim, 

 doubtless from the habit of walking on all fours, which he 

 had contracted among his companions, the young wolves. 

 Every night he repaired to the neighbouring jungle, and 

 never failed to take his part of the carrion he picked up 

 on his way. He generally walked upright, but took his 

 food on all fours in the company of a dog with which he 

 formed a great intimacj'. He was never seen to laugh, 

 nor heard to speak. He died almost suddenly, after hav- 

 ing swallowed a great quantity of water.' " 



The story of the wild man in the King of 

 Oude's menagerie Is not in Col. Sleeman's pam- 

 phlet; but that of the child from Chupra, near 

 Sultanpoor, was related to him, and will be found 

 (with the exception of his death) in the article in 

 » N. & Q." 



As soon as the present storm shall have passed 

 over Oude, and the country shall have been re- 

 stored to tranquillity under the British rule ; when 

 the pursuits of peace shall have succeeded to the 

 horrors of war ; we may hope that some person of 

 scientific attainments quartered In, this district 

 may think it worth his while to trace these stories 

 to their fountain head, and to give us the real 

 facts, purged from all alloy of Oriental fiction and 

 credulity. L. 



PAGAN PHILOSOPHEB, SIR SIMON LEAGUE, 

 BABIGEB. 



(2°'^ S. li. 150. 416.) 



Since answering part of the Query above re- 

 ferred to, I met with Sir Simon League, the Tra- 

 veller, a Poem, Paris, 1832, 8vo. pp. 83. It is the 

 first canto only, and I do not find any trace of a 

 continuation. The author represents himself as a 

 young baronet of ancient family and good estate, 

 handsome, intellectual, and somewhat condescend- 

 ing, as " a man of acres " to travel northwards in 

 cold weather. He Is an imitator of Byron in a 

 mild way. His vices stop at flirtation, and his 

 verse never reaches poetry. There is, however, 



