BISON. 131 



the rascal escaped with a whole skin, and I returned to 

 camp discomfited. 



The marrow bones were cooked for my dinner, like- 

 wise the tongue, but the "esprit de bison," which 

 pervaded them, was too much for my palate, nor 

 could I ever afterwards look at bison flesh in any 



form. 



In addition to the usual forest trees of the Annamullays, 



the bamboo was very plentiful in the vicinity of Poolakul. 

 They were all female trees of the largest kind and 

 luxuriant growth, being quite equal in every respect 

 to those in Burmah. Owing to their prevalence the 

 'Carders declared that the best feeding grounds for 

 elephants and bison lay here ; but I had better sport with 

 the beeves in the districts farther north, which, however, 

 swarmed with leeches, while here they were comparatively 

 scarce, the precincts of the camp being quite clear of these 

 pests, which decline to cross over rocks or stones. The 

 bamboos were at their best, as they were about to seed a 

 phenomenon that only occurs about once in a quarter of a 

 century immediately after flowering the seed is formed 

 and shed ; it resembles rice, and is equally prized as food 

 by the natives ; the tree then dies. A few bamboos 

 flower and die every year ; but an epidemic like this, 

 extending over a large tract of country, is rare, and is said 

 by the natives to be a precursor of sickness and famine 

 a prediction which in this case was soon verified.* 



A tiger prowled round the camp every night, but the 

 Carders did not mind him, and continued to sleep under a 

 frail lean-to, made of plantain leaves and supported by 

 sticks, three sides of which were open to the incursions of 

 any nocturnal marauder ; but one night they were very 



* The great famine of Madras commenced the following year. 



K 2 



