RETIREMENT FROM PLANTING. 93 



mine, and tied him to me with his sheet, and placed his 

 sword between my knees ; in that position we fell asleep ; 

 awoke by day- break. The night was grand in the ex 

 treme, it poured rain in torrents ; and every now and 

 again the dazzling flash of lightning would pierce 

 through the darkness of the forest; a tree would be 

 upset, its crash, and the breaking of branches of other 

 trees, sent their echoes through all parts of the forest, 

 setting the orangs and monkies to cry out, in the pecu 

 liar voice of the former, and the chattering of the latter ; 

 the trumpeting of the wild elephants, and again the 

 piercing shriek or bark of the hog-deer, as she was 

 startled by the noise, or surprised by the tiger, gave so 

 much life to the wild desert, and the darkness of the 

 night, that the fear of the pursuing Tartars, the recol 

 lection of the loss of everything I possessed, gave way to 

 admiration of the war of the elements, and the confusion 

 of the wild inhabitants of the woods, and fatigue soon 

 closed my eyes in rest. 



The following morning a jemedar and his company, 

 (a native officer with forty men,) started for Koojoo, but, 

 as I could not keep on the pathway, I missed them. The 

 Tartars were in pursuit, but being under the influence 

 of rum and opium, kept talking, which gave me and my 

 servant an opportunity to avoid them. We arrived safe, 

 late next evening, at the military post of Ningrew. When 

 I got in sight of it, through the reaction of the mind, the 

 painful state of my legs, and the great loss of blood from 

 leeches, my strength gave way, and the servant, by 

 hoisting his sheet on a branch of a tree, signalized the 

 guard, who sent out some of the soldiers to carry me in. 

 Such was the unfortunate occurrence that ended rnv tea 



