138 PRIVATE COMMISSARIAT ARRANGEMENTS 



Bevera] of them with raws on their shoulders, caused by the pressure of the 

 bamboo ; still they kept on with wonderful pertinacity, partly induced by 

 the promise of extra tobacco and the prospect of a speedy return to their 

 homes if elephants were captured soon, but chiefly by the tsprit de corps 

 of the two parties, whose head jemadars, Gool Budden and Suddar All, 

 each strove to outmarch the other, and to get to the hunting-grounds first. 

 In this Suddar Ali, who was a younger man than Gool Budden, succeeded, 

 as he left his party under a lieutenant, and with a few of his men out- 

 stripped the main body by doing nearly forty miles a-day. He was 

 rewarded by finding a herd of elephants in the valley of the Chengree before 

 we arrived ; and when the men came up on 2d January, after five days' 

 marching, he at once surrounded it ; whilst Gool Budden had to march over 

 the Kalamoin range — a terrible job — into the Myanee valley, and did not 

 find elephants till the 7th. 



When I started for these unexplored wilds I never expected to escape 

 fever, and possibly a necessity for a speedy return to open country ; con- 

 sequently I cannot speak too thankfully of the health our whole party 

 enjoyed. We fortunately left cholera behind us ; and though towards the 

 end of the two months a few of the men were down with dysentery, we 

 only lost four during the trip, including one killed by an elephant. I had 

 provided myseK with every comfort and convenience, and amongst other 

 things I had reason to congratulate myself on possessing before the trip 

 was over was a tin of 100 lb. of ship's biscuits and a keg of salt Bengal 

 humps and tongues. I had an ample supply of tin provisions, plenty of 

 books, and comfortable camp-fittings. I also had tents and everything as 

 comfortable as possible for my servants — Madrassees — who had accompanied 

 me from Mysore, and who comprised a head -servant, a cook, a table- 

 servant, and four Bengalee peons. My trusty henchman Jaffer — my fac- 

 totum for many years — of course accompanied me, in charge of my shooting 

 and fishing gear. I had a most energetic lieutenant in Sergeant Carter, 

 who was blessed with the constitution of an elephant. He was the only 

 European besides myself in the hunting party, Wilson remaining at the 

 EunCTamuttea depot after making one trip up the Chengree with the first 

 instalment of provisions. No amount of work ever distressed Sergeant Carter ; 

 and after the longest days he used to sit up with a very modest allowance 

 of Commissariat rum and an ample supply of tobacco, far into the night. 

 In fact as far as I can say from personal observation, he may never have 

 turned in at all, as I always left him sitting by the fire before his tent, 

 and found him there early in the morning when I got up for coffee ! 



Having seen the last man into the jungle on the morning of the 29tn, 



