2 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



people thought of us, we were called, to our faces, ' jungle- 

 wallahs ' (jungle-folk), and such indeed we were. 



Plenty of books have been, and will continue to be, 

 written on Anglo-Indian social life — some true, or partly so. 

 I only write of our lives, and how they ran, as I have said, 

 in untrodden ways. Should our experiences seem tame to 

 others, I can only say that they were not so to us, or to those 

 who shared them with us at the time. 



From the story of our wanderings, composed, as it must 

 be, of the more interesting or amusing episodes that might 

 occur, and of descriptions of the natural beauties through 

 which we passed, it might easily be imagined that the duties 

 of a Forest Officer were pretty light, carrying with them 

 what most energetic Englishmen, if at all inclined to out- 

 door pursuits, would simply revel in, namely, constant 

 change of scene and scenery, and sylvan occupation, dignified 

 by the name of duty ; all heightened by the excitements of 

 sport — shikar as we called it — at every turn, and in all 

 forms. All the better if they took him along unbeaten 

 tracks, as being so much the less shot over and harried. 



But it was not altogether so. The responsibilities and 

 risks necessarily taken by Forest officials are recognised 

 by the Government they serve, a certain additional rate 

 of salary being granted them, known commonly, and rather 

 grimly, as ' blood money.' Other men can, and do, avoid 

 fever-haunted localities, the reputation of which is very 

 quickly established ; they can choose their own time of 

 year ; all places are not equally bad all the year round, and 

 fever has its special seasons ; for instance, at the foot of the 

 hilly, coffee-growing districts when the lovely, jessamine- 

 scented blossom is out, then is malaria at its worst. There 

 is no escape then, and all who are able to do so leave their 

 estates, and seek a healthier clime. 



For a Forest Officer there are no seasons except those 

 with relation to his business, which includes the planting 



