LETTER VII. SUNDERBUNDS AND 

 BUFFALO 



CALCUTTA, January 6th, 1910. 



BY sheer hard labour I was " well on time," as 

 Americans say, with my work ; in fact, I was ahead 

 of my department, so my merciful staff allowed 

 me to take a week off for Christmas, and I went to 

 my beloved Sunderbunds in a launch which I had 

 lent me. I did not expect to get any shooting, 

 but I took my rifles on the chance. The journey 

 to Khulna from Calcutta is detestable, as one 

 arrives at 4 a.m. an unholy time to turn out 

 and a feverish time of day to start on a steamer. 

 The sunrise was superb, and the river, fringed with 

 palms, backed by alternations of paddy-fields and 

 dense bamboo jungles, suddenly lighted up to a 

 golden red, was a delight to gaze on. The sunrise 

 seemed to respond to the Vedic hymn : 



" Bright luminous dawn: rose-red, radiant, rejoicing ! 

 Open the gates of the morning: waken the singing birds !"* 



Paddy, I may mention, is rice. But the air was 

 cold and damp and laden with miasma. Unlike 

 the Hooghly, this river, the Barisal, is full of 

 bird life. Vultures, kites, ospreys, cranes, and all 

 kinds of sea and fresh-water fowl ; and at intervals 

 one may see crocodiles basking in the sun or sleep- 



* Steele. 

 44 



