4 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



coast ; much of it in travelling and camping out in tents, 

 or, during the rainy seasons, in bamboo huts. These were 

 sometimes run up temporarily, in a few hours, just where 

 it seemed suitable for the moment, or made to last from 

 year to year if the place was to be revisited in future 

 inspection tours. 



My husband, whom I will call ' F.', was bound to be 

 away from headquarters, on forest work, for six months 

 out of the twelve. These were spent in traversing the vast 

 tracts of wild jungle wherein lay his business, the work being 

 parcelled out in sub-divisions amongst European, Eurasian, 1 

 and native subordinates, all subject to him, as he was to his 

 chief, the Conservator. 



F.'s success in carrying out his duties was the greater for 

 his gift of being able to pick up in a week or two the dialect 

 of the locality, wherever he might be, and, in a very short 

 time, to make himself so conversant with it as to be able 

 to dispense with the services of an interpreter, very much to 

 the advantage of ignorant villagers in the case of grievances 

 which would otherwise have been righted or wronged by 

 the gift of a rupee more or less. 



The dialects of the country were numerous, as were the 

 quite distinct tribes, all collected in one general district ; 

 low-country men and hill men ; townsfolk and jungle folk ; 

 none of these consorting with each other — differing in type, 

 habits and language because differing in origin. One of the 

 jungle tribes, for example, plainly showed its Kaffir deri- 

 vation, being woolly-haired, wide-lipped and wide-nosed, 

 descendants of slaves brought over in past times by Arab 

 traders to the west coast ports — Calicut, Cannanore, and 

 others. 



The vernaculars of Southern India are mainly Tamil and 

 Telegu, excepting on the west coast of Malabar, where 

 Malayalam is the universal speech. So curious in sound 



1 Europe- Asia, a half-breed of the two. 



