MARCHING IN THE BED OF THE MYANEE. 1G7 



A remarkable product of the jungles was a sort of monster apple. It 

 grew in great abundance on a handsome tree, like the horse-chestnut, but 

 larger. Each tree had several hundred fruit on it, and at least one out of 

 every hundred trees in the forest was of this kind, in full bearing. The 

 fruit was green, with red and yellow tints on the ripest side, juicy, but very 

 fibrous and sour. I observed that all wild animals ate it, so I ordered the 

 cook to make a tart, though the minion expressed his fears that it might not 

 be " good for master's body ! " It required plenty of stewing, and a large 

 amount of sugar, but was excellent from its fine acid flavour, and I had it 

 almost daily. 



It was astonishing that no one was ever injured by the falling of these 

 large apples. They were tolerably securely attached, but still many did fall, 

 and as the average weight was a pound and a half, they might have killed 

 any one on whose head they had alighted. On one occasion an elephant 

 shook a creeper that ran to the top of one of these trees, and brought a 

 shower of fruit down, which made all who were near run for their lives, 

 whilst a few came with heavy thuds upon the back of the author of the 

 disturbance. 



I found nothing to shoot but sambur-deer and jungle-fowl (Gallus fer- 

 ruginous), squirrels of two kinds, and the black tailless hoolook monkey of 

 the gibbon family (Hoolook hylobates). On the 8th February I started Ser- 

 geant Carter in advance on our return-march to civilisation, with sixty-two 

 of the new elephants in charge of twenty-two tame ones, whilst I remained 

 until the 13 th, keeping the more troublesome and powerful animals to form 

 my batch. The route to Pamgamuttea was clown the Myanee valley, as the 

 river was low and formed an easy means of egress from the hills, whilst the 

 country was too steep and jungly for a direct line. In some places we 

 marched in the forest along the bank ; but owing to cane- thickets and deep 

 ravines which joined the Myanee, we usually found it more advantageous to 

 keep to the river-bed. We were about a hundred and thirty miles from 

 Eungamuttea, following the course of the river. It was not more than 

 eighteen inches deep for the first few days' marches, with a firm gravelly 

 bottom, and as the day grew warm when the sun was high it was a pleasure 

 to the elephants, tame and wild, to be tramping in it."" 



We must have presented a wild and picturesque scene as we filed down 

 the stream. The largest elephants were secured between two or three tame 

 ones. Some tame elephants had several half-grown wild ones fastened to 

 them, which they kept under strict discipline, pummelling and kicking them 



* The camps marked on the map are those I occupied in common with the elephants. They 

 also made several additional halts. 



