372 kArA'S foot. 



six feet of us. Soondargo^ny (the elephant) was brought back from camp 

 after she had deposited the three bears, and we soon had tliis one padded. 

 The first herd of elephants that had come down the hills after the hot sea- 

 son were close at hand, encouraged by the rain and cool w^eather in the 

 low country, and they were very noisy, feeding and disporting themselves, as 

 we passed. "We accompanied Soondargo svry in a body in case we met any 

 of the wild ones, who might have frightened her. I took care after dinner 

 to provide the men with all the requisites for making a merry night after 

 our successfid day. It rained in torrents, but they were under snug shelter ; 

 and from the sounds of merriment that went on, I think they enjoyed 

 themselves none the less for the weather without. 



The Shologa Kara whom I have mentioned was an excellent and patient 

 tracker, but he frequently fell lame from a deeply-seated ulcer on the inner 

 side of his right foot, just where the sole of a boot is joined by the " uppers." 

 I imagined a thorn to be the cause of the mischief, as all natives of the 

 lower classes in India go barefooted, and wounds from thorns and stones 

 are not uncommon. It did not yield to common treatment, however. The 

 wound, though two inches deep, had an orifice that would barely admit a 

 straw. One day, during a halt at noon in the jungles, I saw K;ira and two 

 of his brother Shulagas doing something to the wound, and found they had 

 introduced a leech — the small Indian jungle-leech — into it, in the belief 

 that it would eat away the gangrenous flesh ! This 1 found K;ira had been 

 doing at intervals for months, keeping the leeches plugged in for some 

 hours ! Iviira was only a lad of nineteen ; lie had suffered from the \deor 

 for two years ; and as it appeared likely to cause him incessant trouble, I 

 determined to send him to Nunjengode, twenty-eight miles from IMorlay, 

 where a Government dispensary had recently been opened. Of course it 

 would not have done to Ic^t him know of my benevolent intentions. He 

 would have been as little likely as a l»ison to appreciate any plan involving a 

 jom-ney into open country, amongst the dwellers in towns, and would speedily 

 have been non cd. So I sent a tracker for him to come to Morlay, and 

 when he arrived Jaffer marched him off to Nunjengode M'ith a letter to 

 the dresser. I sent a quantity of ragi to liis wife, and an explanation 

 of what had become of Kara; l)ut I believe, before he returned after an 

 absence of twelve days, his disconsolate spouse had fully settled in her dwu 

 mind that we had sacrificed him to evoke success in hunting! The use of 

 th(! knife upon K/ua had, however, been confined to liis foot, and the wound 

 licaU'd rapidly. lie has lived to be lliankful tlinl his vii'ws wi-re not con- 

 sulted in the matter. 



1 shut .several l)e:irs in 1872-Vc! at a place called Sakrapalani in llie 



