ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 31 



After a long time our messenger returned, saying that the 

 native government official declined to furnish any, adding 

 that he had stated that his resolution was fixed, even if a 

 subsequent request should be made by our parents. Being 

 hot and hungry, I suppose we were displeased, for we at once 

 set out to see the gentleman in person. We found him in his 

 office a wide, open, verandah seated on cushions, and sur- 

 rounded by minor officials. He was a large man, and his sole 

 garment consisted of a sheet, apparently embedded in folds of 

 fat at the spot where his waist should have been, and hanging 

 down over his nether man. 



He gazed on our dusty coats and sun-browned faces with 

 a listless apathy, quietly chewing a large mouthful of betel 

 nut ; and it was not till sundry pokes had been administered 

 with the points of our sticks to the softer portions of his 

 capacious person, and our wants had been reiterated in forcible 

 and emphatic language, that the requisite orders for supplies 

 were given, and we returned to our people. 



Towards the arternoon we again marched, and our fat 

 friend sat down and wrote an account of our brutal treatment 

 to the collector of the district. Had we been better acquainted 

 with the manners and customs of the country, we should have 

 been beforehand with him ; as it was, we forgot all about the 

 matter, and made up our minds for a pleasant camp in the 

 Dandelly. 



We subsequently received an official letter from the col- 

 lector in charge of the district, and had some small trouble in 

 settling the complaint of the obese gentleman, who, however, 

 on our return march supplied everything at once on our 

 arrival without delay. 



At a village a few miles from Hullihal we were joined by 

 the shikarees of the country, Messrs. Emaum and Moideen. 



