24 CRUELTY OF THE MILD HINDOO. 



tliem. The wretched beast was tenibly Lurnt on the back aud hiud-quarters, 

 but not disabled ; and whilst the villagers were casting about for some means 

 of doing him mortal injury, he worked himself through the bog to firmer 

 ground further on, and finally, after having been several hours in liis un- 

 pleasant position, made his escape, and lived for many years, branded like a 

 felon, to follow his old courses. Though the ]\Iorlayites' conduct on this 

 occasion was very cruel, it must be said for them that they were incessantly 

 troubled by this and other elephants, and as they possessed no guns they 

 could do nothing effectual towards killing this freebooter. 



Natives' ideas of cruelty are peculiar. They differ widely from ours. 

 They think notliing of letting a domestic animal, with broken limbs or sores 

 swarming with maggots, linger to death rather than raise a finger to put it 

 out of its misery. They would consider taking its life under any circum- 

 stances cruel. Humanity as understood by us is a feeling of which tliey 

 have no conception. When orders are issued at certain seasons by Govern- 

 ment for the destruction of starving and half-rabid pariah dogs, by wliicli 

 Indian towns are infested — a merciful course to the animals themselves, and 

 one necessary for the protection of the public — even educated Hindoos are 

 seldom wanting to raise an outcry against the step. The same men would 

 pass, without notice or pity, a donkey or cow by the roadside suffering from 

 raw wounds at wliich crows were pecking (no uncommon sight in India), 

 whilst the maddened animal made vain attempts to defend itself. I have 

 never heard any native when with me shooting suggest such a thing as putting 

 a wounded animal out of its pain. They have frequently said, " Why waste 

 another bullet on it ? it will die." A Sholaga (hill- man) in my employ 

 recently found a bison in an elephant pitfall; he had a gun, but rather than 

 expend a shot on an animal that was useless to him, he left it there to 

 starve to death : it did not die tUl the thirteenth day. When my men 

 caught pea-fowl in snares they would puU out a feather, poke the stem 

 through both eyelids, and fasten up the birds' eyes, to prevent them 

 fluttering and spoiling their plumage, which " master would want." Xone 

 of my men ever thought of sparing the youngest animal we might find in 

 the jungle. If permitted to do so, they would consign fawn or leveret, whose 

 helplessness might have been expected to excite even their compassion, to 

 the game-bag without a regret, except at its size. 



The Oopligas' houses are mere huts with earthen walls and tliatched 

 roofs, devoid of any aperture but the door. Before Meddah operations were 

 begun they lived from hand to mouth a good deal, and during times of 

 scarcity they ate, as they still do, many jungle-products, as the heart of the 

 frond of date-palms, succulent roots which grow in immense quantities in 



