1 8 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA. 



able to close with their enemy. News 

 of these encounters began to reach 

 me soon after my arrival from the 

 reports of frontier officials, both on 

 our own and the Belgaum border, but 

 I was not in communication with any 

 higher authority possessing such in- 

 formation as would enable me to test 

 the accuracy of these unpleasant tid- 

 ings. 



It was mortifying enough to hear 

 them from native sources, and to find 

 that my own establishment regarded 

 my proposed progress through Soopah 

 for the purposes of settlement as 

 uncomfortably hazardous. Necessarily, 

 both the country and the people were 

 entirely new to me; but I had an ex- 

 cellent map, and I found myself well 



