320 A Journey from Bombay to Jeypore. [Sess. 



afraid of us than we were of them. We were still riding 

 along the main road when we heard the tinkling of bells in 

 the distance, such as might be caused by an approaching pair 

 of bell-hung circus horses. In a minute more a native rushed 

 past, dressed in a peculiar costume, with a bag on his back, 

 and a stick about four feet long in his hands, with lateral 

 branches, on which the small bells were hung. He saluted 

 us as he went by, and we asked who he was. He was the 

 Government letter-carrier, and the stick with the bells his 

 staff of office. We heard he had to run to Abu Eoad and 

 back each day with the mails, which, if true, is a wonderful 

 feat for any man to perform regularly in such a climate. 



We had left the driving road and were a considerable 

 distance up the rugged mountain path, and were passing 

 through a portion of the forest that was more open than 

 most other places. A troop of monkeys were on the boughs, 

 evidently watching our movements, when suddenly there was 

 a noise overhead, and a large flock of mynalis (a bird about 

 the size of our blackbirds) flew past, and settled in a tree 

 with dense foliage that grew apart in an open glade. The 

 great chirping and chattering made by the birds immediately 

 attracted the attention of the monkeys. It was amusing to 

 see them looking at each other ; then they see:iied to resolve 

 upon a plan to satisfy their inquisitiveness, for one of their 

 number came down from a tree, ran quietly across the path 

 in front of us, and stopped beneath the tree in which the 

 mynalis were. Its presence was immediately discovered, the 

 chattering ceased, there were a few spasmodic chirps, then all 

 was silent. We had just reached the top of the ridge when 

 the guide discovered he had taken the wrong path. He 

 knew, however, how to regain the right one, and I knew from 

 the mountain - peaks that we had not gone very far astray. 

 Following a track in the direction we knew we must go, we 

 came upon a large number of armed hillmen with their 

 families, who were just preparing to encamp for the night. 

 They had a number of camp-fires burning, and were busy erecting 

 tents and arbours to sleep in. The men came to have a look 

 at us, but the women and children kept in the background. 

 They seemed of a morose nature, as, although I saluted them, 

 they did not return the compliment. Tlie shades of night 

 were falling by the time we regained the right track. With 



