ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 203 



CHAPTER XVIII 



Return to Manantavadi — Butterflies — A man-eater and his prey — Story 

 of the tragedy — Mysterious disappearance of an Englishman — 

 Drastic native punishments — Fakirs — Suttee — The Car of Juggernaut 

 — The martyr of Benares. 



The faculty for being surprised, unlike other faculties, 

 sharpening by use, is apt to become dulled, or at any rate 

 difficult to arouse, when surprises become the rule instead 

 of the exception ; when it is the unexpected only that is 

 expected, as in our jungle life — the tame one of civilisation 

 had, in our estimation, no such quality of freshness to show. 

 Those who have only experienced the latter might doubt 

 the charm of our existence in the wilds as being altogether 

 too ' nervy ' ; we knew both, and were in no doubt at all 

 as to which we preferred. 



Our month's leave in bracing Ooty 1 being up, we started 

 on the homeward ride to our headquarters at Manantavadi 

 and the Experimental Garden with its thousand and one 

 interests, but we went through an adventure or two before 

 reaching it. That our ride was a memorable one will be 

 readily understood when I mention that part of it was made, 

 all unawares, in the neighbourhood of a man-eater that was 

 coming up on his own dread business as we were going 

 down. 



The main Ghat road — the Pykara Ghat, as it was called, 

 starting from a place of that name — being tediously winding 

 and dusty, we left the baggage-carts to crawl round by it 

 at their own pace, while we, with the syces leading the 

 horses, took the usual and generally much-frequented foot- 



1 Ootacamund (commonly called Ooty). 



