TRIP UP THE RIVER. 127 



elephants before us, they filed past, and all made their salutations. Those 

 that had been caught but a few months were not all quite an fait at 

 salaaming. Several baby elephants accompanied their mammas ; others, a 

 little older, were ridden by little boys, the mahouts' sons, who joined in the 

 march past and- seemed proud of their duty. There were 1 5 9 in all. 



As there was little to do before the hunting season — December — beyond 

 my daily inspection of the Peelkhana, and the continued training of the 

 elephants, I decided to make an expedition up one of the tributaries of the 

 Ganges to a place called Berramtollie, about forty miles above Dacca, where 

 I heard there were a few wild buffaloes. These animals are not found in 

 Southern India, so I was anxious to add them to my game list, and also to 

 see the localities from which fodder was drawn for the elephants, the amount 

 of which arriving at the Peelkhana astonished me, after the difficulty experi- 

 enced in the matter of fodder in Southern India. I therefore despatched 

 twenty-five elephants by land, to give them a little outing as well as myself, 

 as it always does elephants good, and I followed by boat next day. There 

 was a large choice of boats at the Dacca landing. My servant chose one 

 about fifty feet long, having a comfortable cabin and a small room for 

 boxes on deck. It only drew a foot and a half of water, and was propelled 

 by eight rowers, with a steersman. The forward half of the deck was occu- 

 pied by the rowers, the latter half by the cabin. Upon the roof of this 

 the steersman sat, guiding the boat with a large oar lashed to the sternpost. 

 In the forward-deck was a small square pit, which answered the purpose of 

 a galley. 



I left Dacca at six o'clock in the morning. The boat was narrow and 

 sailed well, but only before the wind, as it had no keel. We soon turned 

 into a tributary that led to a place called Kasimpoor, and here we had to 

 take down the large sail as the breeze was against us. The main stream 

 was about seventy yards wide, with a considerable current. The flood-banks 

 of the river were not less than a mile apart, and were lined with groves of 

 trees, palms, and jungle, with villages and fishermen's huts appearing here 

 and there. Between these banks was one unbroken sea of the richest green 

 imaginable, composed of rice-fields and extensive patches of broad-leaved 

 rushes, the elephants' fodder. But little open water was to be seen except 

 the main stream. When the river should run down in a couple of months, 

 and confine itself within the main channel, the rice-crops now standing in 

 three feet of water would be reaped. Throughout the day the boat was 

 kept in dead water over the flooded land, and as it was not deep the men 

 found poling more effective than rowing. I saw a number of boats loading 

 with grass for the Peelkhana, and could now understand where the fodder 



