202 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



them, for their doings have been watched from some coign 

 of vantage, and made very clear by the help of field-glasses. 

 We were told by eye-witnesses who had so watched them 

 that by the look of the people it is only a wonder that they 

 stop at the sacrifice of buffaloes — when they do stop — 

 except that their numbers are so fast decreasing. 



However, the nerve that could look on at that sort of 

 thing in cold blood was not ours ; neither did we desire it ; 

 so having unintentionally come so near, our only wish was 

 to leave it all behind as quickly as possible. We made the 

 best of our way home, but we could not forget that those 

 terrible scenes were being enacted within a ten-mile ride 

 of Ootacamund, the Simla of the Madras Presidency ! 



